7/31/2019 What Direction is the Internet Going to Take

1/2

What direction is the Internet going to take

Where do you think the next big thing on the internet is going to come from?What areas should you use to promote your web site? red on to find some ofthe answers to these questions.

A question that all site administrators are, or should be asking themselves,when they are deciding what they should be doing to develop their site furtheris, what will internet users be wanting tomorrow? In order to answer this youneed to know who is using the internet, how and why. Secondly you need toknow where the use in increasing and where are the users increasing theirusage of the internet.

Internet Usage by Population.

With World population of almost 6.7 billion there are just over 1.4 billion internetusers or 21.1% of the population. There has been a worldwide increase in

internet usage of 290% from 2000 to 2008.

With a population of just under 3.8 billion or 56% of World population Asia hasjust under 530 million internet users which is 14% of Asian population and37.6% of worldwide usage. The increase in internet use in Asia from 2000-2008has been 363.4%.

North America has a population of just over 337 million or 5.1% of Worldpopulation. Internet usage in North America is 246.5 million or 73.1% or theNorth American population and 17.5% of world usage. North American usagehas grown by 127% from 2000-2008.

Population in Oceania/Australia is 34 million or 0.5% of World population. Withan internet usage of 19.4 million or 57% of the regions population and 1.4% ofworld usage Oceania/Australia has seen a usage growth of 290% from 2000-2008.

Europe, with a population of 800 million has 12% of the Worlds population.Europe has 382 million internet users which represents 47.7% of Europeanpopulation and 27.1% of world usage. Europe has seen a 263% increase ininternet usage from 2000-2008.

With Middle Eastern population of 197 million people, representing 3% of theworld population, there are 42 million internet users. This is 21.3 % of middleeastern population and 3% of world usage. The Middle East has seen a1176.8% increase in internet usage from 2000-2008.

Africa has a population of 955 million which is 14.3% of World population. Thereare 51 million internet users in Africa making 5.3% of its population and 3.6% ofworld usage. African internet use has grown by 1030.2% from 2000-2008.

The Latin American/Caribbean region has a population of 576 million people

which is 8.6 percent of World population. This region has 137.3 million internetusers representing 23.8% of the regions population and 9.8% of world internet

7/31/2019 What Direction is the Internet Going to Take

2/2

usage. The Latin American/Caribbean region has seen an increase in internetusage growth of 659.9% from 2000-2008.

From these figures we can see where internet use is likely to increase in thefuture and where there is limited room for further expansion.

Asia with just over half the worlds population has one of the lowest levels ofpenetration as a percentage of population. Regardless of this, it still has thesecond highest level of usage as a percentage of World use at 37.6% yet stillhas a population of over 3 billion yet to enter the internet usage market. Withthe burgeoning Asian economies and this huge potential market the Asianregion stands to be a lucrative area for internet expansion. This could beillustrated with the recent release of the .asia domain extension.

The North American region by contrast has an internet usage of 73.1% of itspopulation numbering less than 100 thousand people. There is very little room

for expansion in this area with such a large percentage of the population therealready using the internet.

Other areas with that already have a significant portion of the population alreadyusing the internet are Oceania/Australia and Europe with 57% and 47.7%respectively. Oceania/Australia has a very small population and little to offer interms of an expanding internet market. Europe has over 400 thousand peoplewho are not using the internet, this small when compared to Asia and even theAfrican region.

The African region has just over 900 thousand people who are yet to begininternet usage. However further expansion of the internet usage in Africa maybe restricted by the relatively poor population in this region along with significantpolitical instability in the area and poor infrastructure.

The remaining regions of Latin America/Caribbean and the Middle East whencombined have approximately 600 thousand people who have begun internetuse. Although this is a significant market it will be limited by the size of theeconomies in these regions combined with significant political instability in partsof these regions.

So Asia sits to be quite a powerful area for internet expansion with its vastpopulation and increasing economies providing both a significant marketpenetration opportunity and an increasing amount of consumers with theincome and wish to enter the internet market. Europe also has quite a bit ofroom for expansion while North America is just about at saturation point andhas very little room for further expansion of its internet market.By John ScottPublished: 7/4/2008