The United Nations revealed Tuesday that over 2.9 billion people have never accessed the Internet.
That’s 37 percent of people in the entire world that has never been online, a surprising amount given that the global health crisis has pushed the need to be in the digital world. Of those people, 96 percent belong to developing countries.
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Regardless, the pandemic—being the cause of lockdowns, remote learning, and contactless banking—did help accelerate Internet usage. Per data from the UN agency International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Internet users increased by 800 million in two years, from 4.1 billion users in 2019 to 4.9 billion in 2021.
The ITU data also shows that despite the rising number of users, millions of these users currently only have limited, infrequent Internet access. Factors include pricey subscriptions, limited electricity access, and poverty in general. Women and the elderly are also noted to use the Internet less than younger people and men.
Source: The Guardian