A staggering 96.3% of users access the internet via mobile devices, making smartphones the most important digital tools in the world today.
While 82.7% of the global urban population is online, only 47.4% of the rural population has access. That’s a huge gap that reflects deep inequalities in infrastructure and digital opportunity.
Spending 6 hours and 38 minutes online every day isn’t just scrolling time; it’s a shift in how humans live, learn, and earn. It’s equivalent to more than 100 full days online per year per person.
Although mobile dominates, 61.5% of users still access the internet through computers, proving that traditional devices still matter for work, school, or content creation.
While 70% of men use the internet, 65.7% of women do. This gap may seem small, but on a global scale, it represents millions of women without access to tools for learning, income, and visibility.
With billions spending almost 7 hours daily online, the internet is where decisions are made, opinions are formed, and lives are influenced.
India tops the list with 651.6 million people offline — almost five times Nigeria’s number, but a smaller percentage (44.7%) of its population.
China has 311.9 million unconnected people, but that’s only 22% of its population.
With 78.7% of its population offline (105.2M people), Ethiopia has the lowest internet penetration among the top countries listed.
Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Pakistan all have over 50% of their populations unconnected.
Despite their smaller populations, over 70% of people in both Tanzania and Uganda remain offline.
While Nigeria is a regional tech hub, it still has over 128 million people offline, pointing to a major disconnect between urban tech growth and rural internet access.
With a median mobile download speed of 441.89 Mbps, the UAE is in a league of its own, setting a high benchmark for digital infrastructure globally.
At just 18.91 Mbps, Nigeria ranks 102nd, only narrowly ahead of countries like Ecuador and Libya. This means the digital experience for most Nigerians is significantly slower than the global average.
The difference between the fastest and slowest countries spans over 400 Mbps, showing a growing divide in how nations can participate in digital economies.
Countries like Denmark, South Korea, Norway, and the Netherlands continue to show strong mobile connection.
It's notable that Qatar and Kuwait, alongside the UAE, are not just energy-rich but also leaders in mobile connectivity.
Several African nations, Nigeria, Libya, and Mozambique, feature among the slowest, highlighting the urgent need for investment in faster, more reliable mobile networks across the continent.
Between 1995 and 2000, internet users jumped from 39.4 million to 394 million, a 900% leap that marked the beginning of the digital era.
Just 14 years after the first website, over 1 billion people were online, showing how quickly the internet became essential.
Between 2010 and 2015, internet usage grew by 54.5%, slower than before but still powerful, especially in developing regions coming online.
With 5.6 billion users in January 2025, most of the world is now online, and future growth will be more about improving access, speed, and quality than just connecting new people.
Each phase had its catalyst. In the 1990s, it was websites and email. The 2000s brought broadband and Google. In the 2010s, it was smartphones. Now, it's AI, 5G, and IoT that are quietly shaping the future of internet use.
Instant messaging leads with 94% usage, reflecting its role as the primary communication tool for Nigerians.
Social media is used by 91% of mobile internet users, but only 65% engage with it for business purposes, showing its dominance in personal interactions.
Online voice and video calls are highly popular, emphasising a shift toward real-time digital communication.
Only 45% access government services, while 41% use online health platforms, indicating gaps in essential digital services.
Agriculture-related internet use is the lowest at 25%, highlighting the rural digital divide and limited online resources for the sector.
Nigerians aged 10 years and above in the South-South region have three times more access to the internet (42%) compared to those in the North-West (14%).
The cost of accessing the Internet isn't the same everywhere. In Switzerland, 1GB of mobile data costs $7.29, the most expensive globally, while Nigeria stands at just $0.38, which is 15 times less than the cost in the United States ($6.00). Meanwhile, Israel offers the cheapest deal at only $0.02 per GB. There is a more moderate global average at $2.59.
In 2022, only 11.3% of Burundi's population was using the Internet. As of 2023, the East African nation had an adult population of over 7 million and less than 3,000 fixed broadband subscriptions and 8.65 million mobile lines. Burundi's fixed broadband subscriptions grew from only 160 in 2009 to 2,790 in 2023, peaking at 4,230 in 2020 before a decline.
