In The Last Five Years Internet Population Has Doubled

Interconnected computer networks have a global system, which makes use of the Internet Protocol Suite (TCIP/IP). This system is called the internet and it offers its services to billions of users in every part of the globe. The internet is basically the head of all networks; this includes networks of businesses, schools, and public, private, academic and government networks amongst others. With the boom and advancement in information technology, the use of the internet has become quite widespread as it is also a vital and easy source of communication. According to a research, the total of internet users this year has come to 2.27 billion. Five years ago, the number of users was 1.15 billion and this is twice that.

Everyone is aware that the internet is big but these figures and facts really put it into perspective. The World Wide Web rests on top of the strong foundation that has been laid by the internet. Since its arrival, the internet population has continued to swell quite rapidly. Getting used to changes is part of nature but most people have the tendency to forget how quickly the world is undergoing change and continues to change frequently. Thus, the possible size of the online services also expands with the swelling and expansion of the internet.

Facebook is an example of such an extreme evolution. It was noted last year that the number of Facebook users had grown to such an extent that it has surpassed the users of the internet in 2004, which was the year Facebook was launched. The global population of the internet has grown by 1.1 billion since 2007. The question is that from where did these internet users come from? The largest of the internet population exists in Asia and it is also the location where the internet population is growing by the fastest margin.

A 317% increase in the internet population has been seen in Africa, which has reached 140 million from 34 million. Asia has seen a 143% increase and its internet population has totaled to 1 billion from over 418 million; in fact, Asian Internet users make 42% of global internet population. There has been a 56% increase in Europe where the number of internet users has reached 501 million from 322 million. Middle East has witnessed a 294% increase from 20 million to 77 million. In North America, the internet population has reached 273 million from 233 million because of a 17% increase. There has been a 27% increase in Oceania that also includes Australia and the population has increased to 24 million from 19 million. A 114% increase is found in Latin America (South and Central America) that has totaled 236 million from 110 million.

From this data, it can be concluded that in terms of internet population, Europe has become as large as the United States. Moreover, the internet population of Asia today is equal to what the entire population of internet was 5 years. In 2012, Asia surpassed the total of 1 billion internet users whereas Europe surpassed the total of 500 million.

As per Euromonitor, by year 2020, 43.7% of world's population will be the Internet users.