World Usage Patterns & Demographics

Statistics compiled and updated in June 2011 by Internet World Stats shows the top 10 countries in terms of the number of internet users:
1. China: 485,000,000 (23.0% of World users)
2. US: 245,000,000 (11.6%)
3. India: 100,000,000 (4.7%)
4. Japan: 99,182,000 (4.7%)
5. Brazil: 75,982,000 (3.6%)
6. Germany: 65,125,000 (3.1%)
7. Russia: 59,700,000 (2.8%)
8. UK: 51,442,100 (2.4%)
9. France: 45,262,000 (2.1%)
10 Nigeria: 43,982,200 (2.1%)
(Internet World Stats at http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm, August 2011)

The global market for information and communications technology (ICT) is expected to grow by 1.9% to 2.3 trillion euros in 2010, according to the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO). In the crisis year of 2009, sales fell by as much as 1.6%.

EITO indicates that the global high-tech markets are recovering appreciably from the economic crisis and that signs are once again pointing toward growth.  In the industrial countries, increasingly companies are investing again in modern IT systems. The drivers of growth are the emerging countries of China, India and Brazil, whose high-tech markets have been able to make strong gains in spite of the crisis.

In 2010, the emerging countries will provide additional impetus to the markets and if the economic recovery continues, the global ICT market will grow by 3.7% to 2.4 trillion euros in 2011, according to EITO.

The economic crisis had only a slight impact on the global telecommunications market. After a slight dip of 0.5% last year, 2010 sales will grow by 2.9% to 1.4 trillion euros, according to EITO's forecast. The telecommunications market is marked by technological and structural changes, according to EITO. As a result, people are making fewer phone calls on the fixed network and, instead, are using mobile phones or internet telephony more often. In the meantime, 18% of all households in the US no longer use the fixed network, preferring to use their mobile phones exclusively. In Japan, it is 20% and in Italy it is even 26% of households. Accordingly, sales of fixed network voice services have been declining for years. In 2010, they will fall worldwide by 4.6%. On the other hand, the mobile market is growing slightly, up 1.4% to 417 billion euros. The strongest growth is posted by data services, both fixed network as well as mobile. Sales of internet connections and data services on a fixed network will grow in 2010 by 7% to 198 billion euros, according to EITO data. Mobile data services are posting even stronger growth: up 16% to 141.5 billion euros. Mobile internet is conquering the mass market, according to EITO.

With the exception of Russia, the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) were hit less severely by the global economic and financial crisis and are posting the strongest growth. After posting 10%, the Chinese IT market will gain 11%, up to 33.6 billion euros, in 2010. In India, IT sales will also grow by 11%, to 14 billion euros. By comparison, in the EU, the market will grow in 2010 by only 0.2%, to 303 billion euros. In the US, sales in IT hardware, software and IT services will drop slightly in 2010, down 0.8% to 304 billion euros.

A similar picture emerges in the telecommunications market. The growth markets are in the BRIC countries. In 2010, the Chinese telecom market will grow by 8% to 126 billion euros, while the Indian market will grow by 15% to 40.5 billion euros. In India only a third of the population uses a mobile phone; in China, about half. In Germany for example, it is roughly 80%. Powered by the success of smartphones and mobile internet services, the telecom market in the US will grow by 1.6% to 324 billion euros. In the EU, the plus is only 0.1% to 346 billion euros. (EITO, March 2010)