SI LAB / 004 · OPEN DATA
Explore the digital divide.
How has internet use changed across countries? Compare actual World Bank observations, examine gaps in reporting, and see why the year behind a number matters.
What are we measuring? The share of individuals who used the internet in the previous three months, according to the International Telecommunication Union. This is a measure of use, not broadband subscriptions, access quality, affordability, or speed.
01 / EXPLORE
Choose countries and years
Compare two or three countries. The Explorer does not fill missing values or invent observations.
02 / OBSERVE
Internet use over time
Loading observations from the World Bank…
Swipe across the chart to view it at readable size. Exact numbers follow in the table.
Observations by year
“—” means no observation was reported for that country and year. Numbers are percentages of population, not counts of people.
03 / INTERPRET
What does the chart actually tell us?
Use comparable years.
A 2024 figure and a 2022 figure describe different periods. Look at the same year before comparing countries directly.
Keep missing values visible.
A gap means the series doesn't provide an observation for that year. Connecting missing years with a smooth line would suggest precision we don't have.
Know the limits.
Internet use doesn't tell us whether a connection is affordable, reliable, accessible, or useful. Survey methods and revisions can also affect comparisons.
DATA SOURCE & METHODS
Where these numbers come from
Indicator: Individuals using the Internet (% of population), code IT.NET.USER.ZS. Original data source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), distributed through the World Bank, World Development Indicators. Licensed under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. Comparisons, graphics and explanations by SI Database; they are not endorsed by the ITU or World Bank.
The indicator counts people who used the internet from any location in the previous three months. Values may be revised, coverage differs by economy, and data-quality methods vary. Explicitly forecast-labelled API values are excluded from this Explorer's observation chart.