40% of global population is online: ITU

July 19, 2013

As per the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), nearly 40% of the global population or 2.7 billion people are already online in 2013 while India still stands far with around 13% Internet penetration with roughly 160 million users.
As per ITU:

The percentage of people online in developing and developed world is 31% and 77% respectively.
Europe, with 75% Internet penetration, is the region with the highest Internet penetration rate.
The US, with 61% penetration, is positioned at the second spot amongst regions.
Africa has nearly 16% of its citizens online — only half the penetration rate of Asia-Pacific, where one out of every three (33%) citizens has access to the Internet.
More men than women have access to the Internet, but the distinction is not sharp.
Globally, 37% of all women are online, compared with 41% of all men.
The gender gap is more marked in the developing world, where 16% less women than men use the Internet, compared with only 2% less women than men in the developed world.
41% or nearly 750 million households are connected to the Net by 2013.
Nearly half of these households are in the developing world, where household Internet penetration is close to 28%.
78% of households in the developed world are online.
In 2013, around 1.1 billion homes globally, of which 90% are in the developing world, are yet to be connected to the Internet.
Europe and Africa are the regions with the highest and lowest household Internet penetrations respectively.
About 77% households in Europe in contrast to extreme low of 7% in Africa.
With an annual growth rate of 27%, Africa’s Internet penetration grew fastest between 2009 and 2013.
India is expected to double its Internet users from 160 million to 330 million by 2015.
India’s National Telecom Policy ideates for 175 million broadband subscribers by 2017 and 600 million by 2020.