40 percent of the world's population now online
07 OCTOBER 2013
UN says 2.7 billion people will be online by year's end
AFP - Around 2.7 billion people -- 40 percent of the
world's population -- will be connected to the Internet by the end of 2013, the
United Nations said Monday.
Another 250 million people came online in 2012, but 4.4
billion people remain unconnected, said the UN's International
Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Ninety percent of those not online live in developing
countries.
The ITU also said there would be 6.8 billion
mobile-cellular subscriptions - almost as many as there are people on the
planet -- by the end of the year.
South Korea leads the world in information and
communication technology (ICT) development for the third consecutive year,
followed closely by Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland and Norway, the ITU said
in its annual report.
The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Hong
Kong (China) also rank high, while Britain nudged into the top 10 from 11th
position last year, the report said.
The ITU's annual ICT Development Index ranks 157
countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills.
The report also noted that "mobile broadband is now
more affordable than fixed broadband".
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