How Many People Use the Internet in 2024?
When the internet was made public in 1991, it was very swiftly adopted. As technology advanced and its benefits became apparent, more and more people moved to integrate the online world into their daily lives. How many people use the internet today? The latest figures indicate that there are 5.44 billion internet users in 2024.
To fully grasp the significance of this number, we must put it into perspective. Let’s examine some key statistics on the number of global internet users.
Key statistics on internet usage worldwide
- In 2024, there are 5.44 billion internet users worldwide, almost double the 2.73 billion from a decade ago.
- The global internet penetration rate in 2024 is 67.1%.
- The average consumer spends around 6.5 hours per day online.
- Finding information is the primary use of the internet.
- China is home to the biggest number of internet users, with more than one billion people online.
Number of internet users (2014–2024): table
|
Year |
Number of internet users |
Annual change |
|
2014 |
2.73 billion |
|
|
2015 |
2.94 billion |
+7.7% |
|
2016 |
3.20 billion |
+8.8% |
|
2017 |
3.57 billion |
+11.6% |
|
2018 |
3.81 billion |
+6.7% |
|
2019 |
4.15 billion |
+8.9% |
|
2020 |
4.53 billion |
+9.2% |
|
2021 |
4.88 billion |
+7.7% |
|
2022 |
5.10 billion |
+4.5% |
|
2023 |
5.25 billion |
+2.9% |
|
2024* (as of April 2024) |
5.44 billion |
+3.6% |
How many people use the internet?
The number of global internet users has been increasing steadily since the internet’s worldwide adoption. The 2024 figure of 5.44 billion users marks a 3.6% increase from 2023. Despite the rise, it actually marks one of the slowest annual growth rates in at least a decade.
The latest figures also show that the number of global internet users has nearly doubled from 2.73 billion in 2014. In 2015, the number of global internet users grew to 2.94 billion, a 7.7% annual surge, followed by an 8.8% in 2016 to breach the three-billion mark. It took all but three years to add another billion, with the number surpassing four billion in 2019. The number of internet users continued to rise and by 2022, the number had growth to more than five billion worldwide.
Over the past decade, the biggest annual increase in the number of internet users came in 2017. That year, global internet users grew by 11.6%. From 2014 to 2024, the world added over 2.7 billion internet users, averaging an annual growth rate of 7.2%.
Global internet users by region (2024)
Despite the widespread use of the internet across the globe, there are stark differences in its penetration rate across the different regions. Currently, the number of internet users represents around two-thirds of the world’s total population. Internet use and penetration rates, however, are much higher in developed regions.
In much of Europe and North America, more than 90% of the people living there are internet users. In fact, in the United States, 96.9% of individuals are active users.
In contrast, fewer than one-third of the population in Eastern and Middle Africa use the internet, making these regions the lowest in internet penetration rates. At 97.4%, Northern Europe has the highest internet penetration rate.