Table 1

Web Users Worldwide by Region
millions of users (any age)

Source: NUA, 1/98, 1/99, 2/00, 10/01,  www.nua.ie     ina = information not available

*interpolated by OBR from Sep. 99 and Feb. 00 NUA data

**across 28 countries tracked by Nielsen NetRatings, see Table 12,

The number of Web users worldwide passed the half-billion mark in August, up 14% this year. North America’s share is now just slightly more than 1/3 of the world total. Looking back at predictions from our April 2000 issue, The Computer Industry Almanac projected 490 million people with Internet access by 2002 and International Data Corp. expected an Internet population of 502 million by 2003. Both predictions were surpassed according to NUA, which compiles Web user estimates from around the globe.  Country-by-country breakouts are available on the NUA Web  www.nua.ie  

Worth Remembering #1

There are more than 1/2 billion Web users worldwide, 2/3 from outside North America

Table 2

The Nifty Fifty (U.S.)

year when more than 50% of U.S. adults did the following

1995: half of all adults use a PC at home or work (currently 70%)

1997: half of all PC users are online (currently 84%)

1999: half of all adults are online (currently 59%)

1999: half of all adults use a PC at home

2000: half* of all adults are online at home

2001: half** of all adults have ever made a purchase online

Source: Harris Polls: Harris Interactive telephone surveys of more than 2,000 adults (see Table 24)

*49% as of Sep. 2000

**48.2% as of March 2001

There is something powerful about crossing the 50% usage threshold for any product. If you remember nothing else from this report, make sure to commit these two numbers to memory (in round numbers): 70% of U.S. adults use a PC and 84% of those are online.

Worth Remembering #2

70% of U.S. adults use a PC, and 84% of those are online - 59% penetration…a majority!

Across 28 countries tracked by Nielsen NetRatings, the average Internet use in July was 9.6 hours per month per user with Internet access, an increase of 0.4 hours compared to June. South Korea had the highest average use of 19.3 hours. Ireland was lowest at 3.9 hours. The average number of online sessions each month was 18, meaning users logged on just a bit more than every other day. The average session length was just over 1/2 hour.
 

Table 3

Web Usage by Country (at home)
millions of users (any age)

Source: Nielsen NetRatings, 7/01; combined at-home and at-work usage drawn from worldwide sample of 171,000 users

Averages are calculated across the entire universe, active and inactive users