World usage patterns & demographics
(source: newmedia.com/review/default.asp?SectionID=10) Jan. 16, 2007
Data for this section was last checked on 21st December 2006. The Internet has developed rapidly over recent years and has changed many aspects of life. The way in which consumers research their travel decisions has been revolutionised and web based marketing campaigns have become an increasingly important means of promoting destinations.
The objective of New Media Review is to assist ETC National Tourist Offices and their partners in identifying to what extent their target markets are likely to be researching their travel arrangements online and how far websites can be used to communicate with their customers.
Demographics
· There are currently an estimated 1,076,203,987 Internet users worldwide (representing about 16.6% of the population worldwide), according to statistics updated on 27th November 2006 by Internet World Stats. This represents an increase of 198.1% compared to 2000:
o In Asia: 378,593,457 (or 10.3% of the population in the region and 35.2% of the total online population)
o In Europe: 311,406,751 (38.6% of the population in the region and 28.9% of the total online population)
o In North America: 231,001,921 (69.7% of the population in the region and 21.5% of the total online population)
o In Latin America/Caribbean: 85,042,986 (15.4% of the population in the region and 7.9% of the total online population)
o In Africa: 32,765,700 (3.6% of the population in the region and about 3.0% of the total online population)
o In Oceania/Australia: 18,364,772 (54.1% of the population in the region and 1.7% of the total online population)
o In the Middle East: 19,028,400 (10.0% of the population in the region and 1.8% of the total online population).
(Internet World Stats, November 2006)
· Statistics compiled and updated on 20th September 2006 by Internet World Stats shows the top 20 countries in terms of the number of Internet users:
o US: 207,161,706
o China: 123,000,000
o Japan: 86,300,000
o India: 60,000,000
o Germany: 50,616,207
o UK: 37,600,000
o South Korea: 33,900,000
o France: 29,521,451
o Italy: 28,870,000
o Brazil: 25,900,000
o Russia: 23,700,000
o Canada: 21,900,000
o Spain: 19,204,771
o Mexico: 18,622,500
o Indonesia: 18,000,000
o Turkey: 16,000,000
o Australia: 14,189,557
o Taiwan: 13,800,000
o Netherlands: 10,806,328
o Poland: 10,600,000
(Internet World Stats, September 2006)
111. Statistics compiled and updated on 20th September 2006 by Internet World Stats shows the top 32 countries with the highest Internet penetration levels (over 50% of the population using the Internet):
o Iceland: 86.8%
o New Zealand: 76.3%
o Sweden: 74.9%
o Portugal: 74.1%
o Australia: 70.7%
o Falkland Islands: 70.4%
o Denmark: 69.4%
o US: 69.3%
o Hong Kong: 69.2%
o Luxembourg: 68.6%
o Switzerland: 68.1%
o Canada: 67.9%
o Norway: 67.8%
o Singapore: 67.2%
o Japan: 67.2%
o South Korea: 67.0%
o Greenland: 66.5%
o Faroe Islands: 66.5%
o Netherlands: 65.9%
o UK: 62.5%
o Finland: 62.5%
o Germany: 61.3%
o Bermuda: 60.7%
o Taiwan: 60.3%
o Barbados: 60.0%
o Austria: 56.8%
o Liechtenstein: 56.7%
o Guernsey & Alder: 56.5%
o Slovenia: 55.6%
o Israel: 52.0%
o Estonia: 51.5%
o Ireland: 50.7%
(Internet World Statistics, September 2006)
111. Close to 713 million people, age 15+, used the Internet worldwide from all locations in June 2006, representing 14% of the world’s total population within this age group, according to comScore’s June 2006 World Metrix data.
Of the 713 million online users, 21% originated from the US; 11% from China and 7% from Japan.
Top 15 online populations by country, among visitors age 15+, June 2006*:
o US: 153,074,000
o China: 78,310,000
o Japan: 53,104,000
o Germany: 31,977,000
o UK: 29,832,000
o South Korea: 25,183,000
o France: 23,801,000
o Canada: 19,595,000
o India: 18,020,000
o Italy: 16,857,000
o Brazil: 13,713,000
o Spain: 12,561,000
o Russian Federation: 11,390,000
o Netherlands: 10,864,000
o Australia: 9,432,000
(ClickZ.com, August 2006)
111. The Center for Public Policy at Brown University studied 1,782 government Web sites in 198 different countries in the summer of 2006 to determine the level of e-government services across the globe. Features assessed included the availability of online information and electronic services, privacy and security, and public access.
South Korea was ranked top among all nations with a score of 60.3 out of a possible 100. This means that the government Web sites analyzed for that nation had more than half of the features important for information availability, citizen access, portal access and service delivery. The United States and Canada came fourth and fifth, respectively.
Top 10 e-government countries worldwide, 2006 (scale of 1-100*)
o South Korea: 60.3
o Taiwan: 49.8
o Singapore: 47.5
o US: 47.4
o Canada: 43.5
o Great Britain: 42.6
o Ireland: 41.9
o Germany: 41.5
o Japan: 41.5
o Spain: 40.6
Other findings included:
o 29% of government Web sites surveyed offer services that are fully executable online, up from 19% last year
o 94% of government Web sites in 2006 provide access to publications and 72% have links to databases
o 26% of government Web sites show privacy policies (up from 18% in 2005), while 14% have security policies (up from 10% in 2005)
o 23% of government Web sites have some form access for persons with disabilities, up from 19% in 2005
(eMarketer, August 2006)
o The world reached a milestone late in 2005 as Internet access became available to 1 billion people worldwide, with approximately 845 million using it regularly, according to a report by eMarketer entitled “Worldwide Online Access: 2004-2010”.
Number of regular Internet users in selected countries and regions worldwide in 2005:
o Asia-Pacific: 315.4 million with an estimated 77.6 million broadband households.
o Europe: 233.3 million with an estimated 55.2 million broadband households.
o US: 175.4 million with an estimated 43.7 million broadband households.
o China: 111.0 million with an estimated 34.1 million broadband households.
o Latin America: 60.5 million with an estimated 7.3 million broadband households.
o Canada: 18.5 million with an estimated 6.5 million broadband households.
o Worldwide: 845.4 million with an estimated 194.6 million broadband households.
The US is the single country with the largest Internet population with 175.4 million Internet users at the end of 2005, followed by China at 111 million, according to eMarketer. Despite China's continuing strong Internet growth, eMarketer expects the US to maintain its lead over China, at least until the end of the decade. (eMarketer, May 2006)
o Internet connectivity in Africa is growing at a faster pace than any other region in the world, according to AllAfrica Global Media AllAfrica Of course, it should be noted that this growth is coming on top of an extremely low base.
There are 23.5 million Internet users in Africa, according to the CIA World Factbook CIAWorld. Of just over 900 million African residents, this represents about 2.5% of the population, compared to the worldwide average of 16%. Since 2000, the number of Internet users in Africa has grown 400%.
Many African users access via Internet cafes and other multi-user locations such as schools and offices, making an exact count difficult, but the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) ITU estimates that the largest population of Internet users resides in Egypt.
The top 10 countries in Africa for numbers of Internet users in 2004, (according to ITU data from March 2006), were as follows:
o Egypt: 3,900,000
o South Africa: 3,566,000
o Morocco: 3,500,000
o Nigeria: 1,769,700
o Kenya: 1,500,000
o Sudan: 1,140,000
o Algeria: 845,000
o Tunisia: 835,000
o Zimbabwe: 820,000
o Senegal: 482,000
Africa Online claims that Kenya has the fastest growing Internet population in sub-Saharan Africa. The number of Internet users in Kenya has reportedly grown from 500,000 to 1.5 million in the space of a year.
(eMarketer, May 2006)
111. The sixth annual “E-readiness Rankings” of the worlds largest economies, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) suggest that the world is more “e-ready” than ever with over 1 billon Internet users and 2 billion mobile-phone users world wide.
E-readiness is described by the EIU as a comprehensive measure of its overall e-business environment, including the potential for Internet-based business.
During 2005 to 2006 there was little movement between most of the top ten countries in this year’s e-readiness rankings.
West European countries took six of the top ten places with Denmark in 1st place, Sweden in 4th and Finland in 7th. Mobile penetration and Internet use were the key areas of connectivity.
The US, Switzerland, UK, Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong were in the remaining top ten places.
Azerbaijan was one of the least e-ready countries, however, virtually all countries have improved upon their scores in this year’s e-ready rankings.
Peter Korsten from IBM said:” This is the first time we see a level playing field between developed and developing nations in terms of connectivity".
The digital divide seems to decrease.
(eMarketer, May 2006)
111. The number of Internet users surpassed 1 billion in 2005, according to eTForecasts. This was up from 45 million in 1995 and 420 million in 2000. The 2 billion Internet users milestone is expected in 2011.
Much of current and future Internet user growth is coming from populous countries such as China, India, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia. In the next decade many Internet users will be supplementing PC Internet usage with Smartphone and mobile device Internet usage. In developing countries many new Internet users will come from cell phone and Smartphone Internet usage. The US continues to lead with nearly 200 million Internet users at year-end 2005. The two most populous countries (China and India) are now in 2nd and 4th place in Internet users.
Top 15 countries in Internet usage in year-end 2005
o US: 197.8 million (18.3%)
o China: 119.5 million (11.1%)
o Japan: 86.3 million (8.0%)
o India: 50.6 million (4.7%)
o Germany: 46.3 million (4.3%)
o UK: 35.8 million (3.3%)
o South Korea: 33.9 million (3.1%)
o Italy: 28.8 million (2.7%)
o France: 28.8 million (2.7%)
o Brazil: 25.9 million (2.4%)
o Russia: 23.7 million (2.2%)
o Canada: 21.9 million (1.7%)
o Indonesia: 18.0 million (1.7%0
o Mexico: 16.9 million (1.6%)
o Spain: 15.8 million (1.5%)
Internet user penetration is now in the 65% to 75% range for the leading countries and future growth is limited. Internet user penetration for the populous and developing countries is in the 10% to 20% range. The developing countries have room to grow and wireless web usage will account for much of future Internet user growth. (eTForecasts, January 2006)
111. America has regained first place in the annual worldwide Internet league table of countries making the most productive and extensive use of the Internet, according to the Networked Readiness Index from the World Economic Forum. The index looks at various factors such as how much countries are using the web to increase competitiveness. The US regained the top position from Singapore, which is now ranked in second place. Denmark is in third place and the UK has moved up two places from 12th last year to tenth position.
The top 10 list in the Index is as follows:
o US
o Singapore
o Denmark
o Iceland
o Finland
o Canada
o Taiwan
o Sweden
o Switzerland
o UK.
The World Economic Forum said that Information and communication technologies presently represent one of the most important drivers in boosting efficiency and productivity in today's fast changing economy. (IMRG, March 2006)
111. Internet adoption in leading Internet economies is showing signs of slowing, with many of the world’s leading Internet economies displaying modest year-on-year growth, according to Ipsos Insight’s annual study The Face of the Web. During 2005, the global online population grew a modest 5% year-on-year, well short of the 20% growth rate observed in 2004. In addition, the number of individuals expecting to access the Internet in the next 12 months was about the same in 2005 as 2004, indicating prospects for growth in 2006 may be just as temperate.
The latest findings from The Face of the Web (based on interviews in 12 key global markets with more than 6,500 adults, including 3,462 active Internet users) reflect adoption possibilities of the Internet that few other technologies have shown in the past.
o Driving overall global Internet user growth in 2005 was Japan, which now accounts for roughly 75 million users. Japan also remains the world’s No.1 Internet-based economy, as nearly 9 in 10 (89%) claim to have used the Internet in the past 30 days, while users averaged nearly 14 hours per week online.
o France witnessed the most significant year-over-year gains in Internet adoption among the 12 global markets tracked in the study: currently, just over 60% of adults age 18 or older in France use the Internet regularly, representing more than a 12-point increase from 2004 (48%).
o However growth in adoption may be plateauing in North America, specifically in the US and Canada, where prevalence of regular Internet usage in 2005 (71% and 72% respectively) was essentially flat compared to 2004. Still, both of these markets remain important players in the evolving global Internet economy as despite marginal increases in Internet user growth within North America, this region is leading the charge in Wireless Internet use on a PC as well as awareness and usage of Wi-Fi Internet connectivity. These are key indicators that North Americans are turning the corner in mass and becoming more technically sophisticated Internet users.
o We think the results in 2005 really prove that measuring growth of the Internet in the coming years will be less about user volume, and more about consumers’ reliance on this medium as a way of life whether it is checking RSS feeds, blogging or picking up a podcast or yesterday’s sitcom, consumers continue to expand and apply new depth of Internet use that we haven’t seen before.
A number of key trends emerged in 2005 in a variety of global marketplaces:
o In North America, the rising level of notebook PC ownership is fueling significant growth in wireless Internet access. The US and Canada lead the world in Wireless Internet Access via PC: At least one-third of North Americans (U.S. & Canada) have accessed the Internet wirelessly in the past 30 days – significantly higher than rates seen in 2004. The U.S. and Canada also have some of the highest rates of Wi-Fi awareness and usage, as roughly two in five that have that have heard of Wi-Fi technology have actually used it to access the Internet.
o In Europe, France and Germany appear poised to drive global Internet growth in 2006, as does urban Russia, where Internet usage remains a nascent activity, but is on the rise. In addition, future growth in wireless Internet access via handset/cell phone looks promising in Europe as well, particularly in France and the UK, while usage and/or access to VoIP telephony (Voice over Internet Protocol) is also rising steadily in France, Germany and the UK, indicating these nations may be emerging as the early adopter markets for this Internet technology.