Number of Internet Users: Measuring Digital Access Progress in Economically Developing Countries

The percentage of Internet users in economically developing countries rose from 2% to 27% in the last decade. Eighty percent of the 25 fastest growing countries in the number of Internet users in 2004 were economically developing countries. This digital access progress in economically developing countries is a positive turn around from a decade ago. While Internet users per 100 inhabitants indicates digital access progress in economically developed countries it falls short in understanding progress in economically developing countries. Instead we found the total number of Internet users a better measure for understanding progress in economically developing countries. We recommend that future digital access index calculations to incorporate the total number of Internet users to account for economically developing country’s progress in digital access.