By Aijaz Alam
How many people use the internet worldwide?
About 6 billion people, about three-quarters of the world's population (73.6%), used the internet in 2025, according to the International Telecommunication Union's Facts and Figures 2025, up from 5.8 billion in 2024. About 2.2 billion people are still offline, and income is the biggest divide: 94% of people in high-income countries are online, against 23% in low-income countries.
- 6 billionPeople who used the internet in 2025ITU estimate, about 74% of the world
- 2.2 billionPeople still offline in 2025ITU; 96% of them in low- and middle-income countries
- 94% vs 23%Online in high-income vs low-income countriesITU, 2025
- 77% vs 71%Men vs women online worldwideITU, 2025
- 55%World population covered by 5GITU, 2025; 4% in low-income countries
The numbers
The full breakdown
People online and offline worldwide, 2024 and 2025
| Measure | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| People online | 5.8 billion | 6 billion |
| People offline | 2.3 billion | 2.2 billion |
| Share of the world online | 71% | 73.6% |
ITU Facts and Figures 2025 (17 Nov 2025). The 2024 figures are ITU's revised estimates; its first estimate for 2024, a year earlier, was 5.5 billion online and 2.6 billion offline.
Internet use by country income group, 2025
| Group | Share online | People online, millions |
|---|---|---|
| World | 73.6% | 6,047.4 |
| High-income countries | 94.2% | 1,334.7 |
| Upper-middle-income countries | 88.8% | 2,520.1 |
| Lower-middle-income countries | 62.9% | 1,987.5 |
| Low-income countries | 23.4% | 150.4 |
| Least developed countries | 33.7% | 410.2 |
| Landlocked developing countries | 37.6% | 227.6 |
| Small island developing states | 64.1% | 43.9 |
ITU estimates, November 2025. Income groups follow the World Bank classification; the last three rows are UN country groups that overlap the income groups.
Internet use by world region, 2025
| ITU region | Share online | People online, millions |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 35.7% | 445.1 |
| Americas | 88.1% | 925.4 |
| Arab States | 69.5% | 348.3 |
| Asia-Pacific | 77.1% | 3,458.3 |
| CIS (former Soviet states) | 92.9% | 232.3 |
| Europe | 92.2% | 638.0 |
ITU estimates, November 2025, by ITU's own regions (not UN continents).
Who is online worldwide, by gender, area and age, 2022 and 2025
| Group | 2022 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Men | 69.8% | 76.6% |
| Women | 64.1% | 70.5% |
| Urban areas | 80.3% | 85.4% |
| Rural areas | 50.3% | 58.2% |
| Ages 15 to 24 | 75.8% | 82.2% |
| Rest of the population | 65.3% | 71.9% |
ITU estimates, November 2025: share of each group using the internet, world.
Share of people covered by a 5G network, 2024 and 2025
| Group | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| World | 53.1% | 55.1% |
| High-income countries | 82.8% | 83.7% |
| Upper-middle-income countries | 62.2% | 65.7% |
| Lower-middle-income countries | 44.2% | 45.8% |
| Low-income countries | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Least developed countries | 3.5% | 5.0% |
ITU estimates, November 2025. Coverage means a 5G signal reaches where people live; it does not mean they use 5G.
Over time
People using the internet worldwide, 2005 to 2025
| Year | People online | Share of world population |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 1.02 billion | 15.6% |
| 2010 | 1.99 billion | 28.4% |
| 2015 | 2.98 billion | 39.9% |
| 2019 | 4.20 billion | 53.9% |
| 2020 | 4.73 billion | 60.1% |
| 2021 | 5.07 billion | 63.8% |
| 2022 | 5.37 billion | 67.0% |
| 2023 | 5.59 billion | 69.2% |
| 2024 | 5.80 billion | 71.2% |
| 2025 | 6.05 billion | 73.6% |
ITU estimates as published in November 2025. ITU revises the whole series each year, so older editions show different numbers for the same years; compare only within one edition. ITU's press release rounds 2025 to 6 billion.
Why sources differ
Same question, different answers
| Number | When | Who measured | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 billion | 2025 | ITU Facts and Figures 2025 | People using the internet, ITU estimate for every economy |
| 5.5 billion | 2024, first estimate | ITU Facts and Figures 2024 | First estimate for 2024; ITU raised it to 5.8 billion a year later with new country data |
| 8.2 billion | 2025 | ITU, mobile-broadband subscriptions | Counts active subscriptions, not people; one person can hold several |
| 82% | 2025 | ITU, mobile phone ownership | People aged 10 and older who own a mobile phone, not internet users |
| 97% | 2026 | Pew Research Center, US adults | One country and adults only, from a survey |
Most global figures for internet use trace back to the ITU, the UN agency for digital technology, so the first reason two numbers differ is the edition. ITU rebuilds its whole series every year as countries send new survey data: its first estimate for 2024 was 5.5 billion people online, and a year later it put 2024 at 5.8 billion. Compare years only within one edition, as the history table on this page does. The second reason is what is counted. Mobile-broadband subscriptions reached about 8.2 billion in 2025, more than the world's population, because they count SIM cards and data plans, not people. Phone ownership (82% of people aged 10 and older) is also higher than internet use, because owning a phone is not the same as going online. National surveys such as Pew's for the US (97% of adults) cover one country and adults only. Commercial trackers that add up mobile and social media audiences publish their own totals with different methods; they are not used here.
What it means
How to use these numbers
Three in four people on Earth now use the internet, and growth is slowing: the share went from 40% in 2015 to 60% in 2020 and 74% in 2025. The 2.2 billion people still offline are not spread evenly. 96% of them live in low- and middle-income countries, and in low-income countries only 23% of people are online, against 94% in high-income ones.
Where people live matters more than who they are. The gap between urban (85%) and rural (58%) areas is far wider than the gap between men (77%) and women (71%). Africa is the only ITU region where most people are still offline, with 36% online.
For a business that sells abroad, the world figure of 74% hides very different markets. In Europe, the Americas and the CIS region about nine in ten people are online; in Africa, about one in three. New users are more likely to be rural, young and on mobile, and 5G reaches only 4% of people in low-income countries, so fast, light pages still matter.
Method and sources
How it was measured
Method
- Publisher
- International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Facts and Figures 2025, published 17 November 2025
- Basis
- ITU estimates for every economy, built from official country data; ITU models and imputes missing values and nowcasts 2025
- Definition
- Individuals using the internet, as a share of the population and in millions of people
- Groups
- ITU regions (Africa, Americas, Arab States, Asia-Pacific, CIS, Europe); income groups follow the World Bank classification
- Revisions
- ITU revises past years in each edition as countries send new data; 2024 went from 5.5 to 5.8 billion people online
- Checked at source
- 31 October 2026, the ITU press release, the Facts and Figures 2025 internet use and methodology pages, and ITU's key ICT indicator aggregates file (November 2025)
- Next release
- ITU publishes Facts and Figures yearly, usually in November
- Last changed
- 31 Oct 2026
- Data files
- CSV · JSON (stable links)
Sources
- Facts and Figures, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Official data
- Pew Research Center Survey
Cite this page
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FAQ
More questions people ask
How many people are still offline?
About 2.2 billion in 2025, down from 2.3 billion in 2024 (ITU). 96% of them live in low- and middle-income countries.
Is there a gender gap in internet use?
Yes. 77% of men and 71% of women worldwide used the internet in 2025 (ITU). The gap is widest in low-income countries, where 28.6% of men and 18.3% of women are online.
Which region has the lowest internet use?
Africa. 35.7% of people there were online in 2025, against 92.9% in the CIS region and 92.2% in Europe (ITU).
How fast is the number of internet users growing?
The online population grew by more than 240 million people in 2025 (ITU), to about 6 billion. The share of the world online rose from 71.2% to 73.6%, a smaller rise than in 2020, when it jumped from 53.9% to 60.1%.
Every number on this page was checked at its original source (International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Pew Research Center). Free to cite with a link to this page.