The widening gap in our connected world

Technology · Published 18 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: By 2025, an estimated 6 billion people are online, yet a profound digital divide persists. While global connectivity has surged, billions remain offline, trapped by barriers of infrastructure, cost, and skill. Understanding this disparity reveals the true state of our global digital landscape.

The ITU projects that about 6 billion individuals—nearly 74% of everyone on Earth—are online by 2 July 2025. Compared to the 60% recorded in 2020, this shows a major rise in global access. In that five-year window, an estimated 1.3 billion individuals transitioned into the digital sphere. This recent expansion follows a previous year where the global user count was estimated at roughly 5.8 billion people.

However, this growth masks a stark economic divide. The gap in 'meaningful connectivity' is defined by more than just access; it is shaped by connection speed, affordability, and digital literacy. In high-income economies, internet usage reaches approximately 94% of the population. In contrast, only about 23% of people in low-income countries are online. This disparity in access is often linked to broader issues of economic development and the availability of necessary infrastructure.

Currently, roughly 2.2 billion people remain offline. Addressing this requires more than just laying cables; reports emphasize the necessity of expanded digital infrastructure, more affordable services, and widespread digital skills training. Without these, the benefits of an expanding internet may fail to reach the populations that need them most.

Measuring this landscape is complex. While older surveys focused on IPv4 hosts, such methods became obsolete after 2019 because they failed to account for IPv6 hosts. Modern assessments, such as the Web Index, now look at multi-dimensional impacts on human rights and development, though the most recent comprehensive Web Index data covers 86 countries as of 2014. Other research frameworks, such as the 2020 Affordability Drivers Index, have expanded this scope to include 72 different nations.

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