Africa now holds 32 of the 38 mostly offline countries
Countries where fewer than half of people used the internet, 2019 and 2024. The map shows 2024.
- 1. China leads research in 57 of 64 critical technologies
- 2. China's international patent filings grew sixfold since 2010
- 3. Nearly half of top AI researchers studied in China
- 4. China's research spending rose from 12% to 88% of America's
- 5. China spends more importing chips than crude oil
- 6. Four tech giants spent $358 billion on infrastructure in 2025
- 7. Two in three working satellites are now Starlinks
- 8. Irish data centres now use more power than city homes
- 9. Indians now file more patents at home than Germans
- 10. India published more science papers than Germany and Britain combined
- 11. Brazilians now use Pix more often than all cards combined
- 12. Poland's digital service exports grew fivefold in a decade
- 13. Africa now holds 32 of the 38 mostly offline countries
Countries where fewer than half of people used the internet in 2024, down from 62 in 2019.
Countries that crossed the halfway mark since 2019, among them Pakistan (17.1% to 57.3%), Bangladesh (30.4% to 53.4%) and India (29.5% to 64.9%).
Of the countries still mostly offline, 32 (84%) are in sub-Saharan Africa, vs 40 of 62 (65%) in 2019. Kenya, famous for mobile money, is at 35.0%.
the numbers & method
| Country | Value (%) |
|---|---|
| BHR | 100.0 |
| SAU | 100.0 |
| ARE | 100.0 |
| DNK | 99.8 |
| KWT | 99.7 |
| MCO | 99.0 |
| NOR | 99.0 |
| LUX | 98.8 |
| LIE | 98.3 |
| ISL | 98.2 |
| QAT | 98.1 |
| MYS | 98.0 |
| KOR | 97.9 |
| SMR | 97.4 |
| CHE | 97.3 |
| IRL | 97.2 |
| NLD | 97.0 |
| BRN | 96.3 |
| AUS | 96.1 |
| BEL | 95.8 |
| HKG | 95.8 |
| ESP | 95.8 |
| CHL | 95.6 |
| JOR | 95.6 |
| SWE | 95.5 |
| GBR | 95.5 |
| OMN | 95.3 |
| AUT | 94.9 |
| USA | 94.7 |
| AND | 94.4 |
| CAN | 94.4 |
| RUS | 94.4 |
| SGP | 94.4 |
| BLR | 94.3 |
| MLT | 93.9 |
| HUN | 93.8 |
| FIN | 93.7 |
| MKD | 93.6 |
| DEU | 93.5 |
| NZL | 93.5 |
| KAZ | 93.4 |
| LVA | 92.7 |
| BHS | 92.5 |
| EST | 92.2 |
| CHN | 92.0 |
| KGZ | 92.0 |
| URY | 92.0 |
| BTN | 91.3 |
| ROU | 91.3 |
| MAR | 91.2 |
| DOM | 91.0 |
| THA | 90.9 |
| SVN | 90.8 |
| AZE | 90.4 |
| JAM | 90.1 |
| MAC | 89.8 |
| SVK | 89.8 |
| ARG | 89.7 |
| CYP | 89.6 |
| UZB | 89.5 |
| KIR | 89.4 |
| ITA | 89.2 |
| LTU | 89.2 |
| MNE | 88.9 |
| FRA | 88.7 |
| POL | 88.6 |
| PRT | 88.5 |
| ISR | 88.2 |
| SYC | 87.8 |
| CZE | 87.7 |
| SRB | 87.7 |
| TUR | 87.3 |
| CRI | 87.2 |
| GRC | 86.3 |
| BIH | 86.1 |
| ALB | 85.9 |
| JPN | 85.5 |
| IRN | 85.3 |
| MDV | 85.2 |
| MNG | 85.1 |
| BRA | 84.5 |
| VNM | 84.2 |
| GEO | 83.8 |
| HRV | 83.6 |
| MEX | 83.1 |
| GUY | 83.0 |
| NRU | 83.0 |
| UKR | 82.5 |
| BGR | 82.4 |
| TTO | 82.2 |
| DMA | 82.0 |
| LBY | 82.0 |
| PER | 82.0 |
| PRY | 81.6 |
| IRQ | 81.5 |
| ARM | 81.3 |
| LBN | 80.6 |
| BLZ | 80.0 |
| BOL | 79.7 |
| COL | 79.3 |
| ZAF | 78.4 |
| DZA | 77.4 |
| MDA | 77.4 |
| ECU | 77.2 |
| KNA | 76.9 |
| VEN | 76.7 |
| TUN | 76.5 |
| VCT | 76.2 |
| CPV | 74.7 |
| FJI | 74.7 |
| EGY | 74.6 |
| MUS | 73.3 |
| IDN | 72.8 |
| PAN | 72.8 |
| ATG | 72.7 |
| GHA | 72.2 |
| CUB | 70.5 |
| BRB | 70.4 |
| GRD | 70.2 |
| GAB | 68.7 |
| KHM | 68.5 |
| LCA | 68.2 |
| TON | 67.4 |
| PHL | 67.3 |
| SLV | 66.5 |
| MHL | 65.9 |
| LAO | 65.6 |
| DJI | 65.3 |
| IND | 64.9 |
| NAM | 64.9 |
| SWZ | 63.4 |
| GNQ | 63.3 |
| NIC | 61.4 |
| GTM | 60.2 |
| SEN | 60.1 |
| STP | 59.1 |
| HND | 58.6 |
| BWA | 57.5 |
| PAK | 57.3 |
| TJK | 55.8 |
| LKA | 54.6 |
| BGD | 53.4 |
| LSO | 51.8 |
| GMB | 49.5 |
| HTI | 47.9 |
| COG | 47.3 |
| CMR | 46.3 |
| NPL | 46.3 |
| MRT | 45.8 |
| ZWE | 41.6 |
| CIV | 41.4 |
| NGA | 41.2 |
| AGO | 40.7 |
| FSM | 39.5 |
| TGO | 39.5 |
| MLI | 36.8 |
| KEN | 35.0 |
| BEN | 34.0 |
| GIN | 33.3 |
| COM | 32.5 |
| LBR | 32.2 |
| RWA | 31.7 |
| TZA | 31.2 |
| GNB | 29.8 |
| SLB | 29.0 |
| BFA | 28.3 |
| SOM | 27.9 |
| SLE | 25.1 |
| ETH | 21.9 |
| MOZ | 20.5 |
| COD | 19.7 |
| MWI | 19.0 |
| PNG | 18.8 |
| MDG | 18.7 |
| ZMB | 17.1 |
| AFG | 16.1 |
| NER | 15.6 |
| CAF | 13.8 |
| TCD | 12.6 |
| UGA | 8.9 |
| BDI | 8.6 |
Claim types Fact · Estimate
World Bank WDI series IT.NET.USER.ZS (original source: International Telecommunication Union, ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database), edition last updated 2026-10-08, read from the World Bank API (api.worldbank.org/v2, country/all, 2019-2025). Counted: economies the World Bank lists as countries (aggregates excluded) with values for both 2019 and 2024: 181. Economies without both values are left out (among them Eritrea, Myanmar, South Sudan, Timor-Leste and Yemen, all below 50% in their latest year), so 38 is a floor. 2025 values exist for only 10 countries, none of them below 50%, so 2024 is the latest comparable year. Below 50% in 2024 (38): Burundi 8.6, Uganda 8.9, Chad 12.6, Central African Republic 13.8, Niger 15.6, Afghanistan 16.1, Zambia 17.1, Madagascar 18.7, Papua New Guinea 18.8, Malawi 19.0, DR Congo 19.7, Mozambique 20.5, Ethiopia 21.9, Sierra Leone 25.1, Somalia 27.9, Burkina Faso 28.3, Solomon Islands 29.0, Guinea-Bissau 29.8, Tanzania 31.2, Rwanda 31.7, Liberia 32.2, Comoros 32.5, Guinea 33.3, Benin 34.0, Kenya 35.0, Mali 36.8, Micronesia 39.5, Togo 39.5, Angola 40.7, Nigeria 41.2, Côte d'Ivoire 41.4, Zimbabwe 41.6, Mauritania 45.8, Cameroon 46.3, Nepal 46.3, Congo 47.3, Haiti 47.9, Gambia 49.5. The 24 that crossed 50% since 2019: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, India, Iraq, Kiribati, Laos, Sri Lanka, Lesotho, Marshall Islands, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Eswatini, Tajikistan, Venezuela. Sub-Saharan Africa uses the World Bank's region grouping (it includes Mauritania). Many values for lower-income countries are ITU estimates and can be revised. Counts are progrss calculations. Map hover shows the 2024 share.
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