Web Usage Worldwide

Table 1

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

Source: NUA, 1/98, 1/99, 2/00, 10/01, 11/02, www.nua.ie             ina = information not available

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

The number of Web users worldwide in September was just over 600 million, up 10% from year-end 2001 according to NUA, which compiles Web user estimates from around the globe. Nearly all the growth comes from the Asia/Pacific region, which has added 40 million users this year and is now larger than North America (187 million vs. 183 million). Country-by-country breakouts are available on the NUA Web  www.nua.ie  

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 (now 70+%)

1997: half of all PC users are online (now 80+%)

1999: half of all adults are online (now 60+%)

1999: half of all adults use a PC 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, for more)

*49% as of Sept. 2000

**48.2% as of March 2001

If you remember nothing else from this report, make sure to commit these numbers to memory (in round numbers):

70+% of adults use a PC
80+% of those PCs are online
60+% online penetration of all adults (U.S.)

Web Usage U.S.

As of September, Nielsen NetRatings  www.netratings.com  estimates that 178 million U.S. individuals (all ages), or 62% of the U.S. population, have access to the Internet, an increase of
30 million since Sept. 2000, but only 3 million more than a year ago. However, active users were up
 10 million from a year ago to a total of 121 million, 68% of those with Internet access.

Table 3

U.S. Web User Trend
millions who have ever used the Web

Sources: 1999-2002: Nielsen NetRatings, 11/02; Total Universe = number; population estimates from U.S. Census Bureau
of users of all ages (age 2+) with Internet access at home or work;
Active Users = subset of Total Universe, those who use the Internet that month; estimated from panel of 62,000 U.S. at-home users, and 8,000
U.S. at-work users
1996-1998: age 16+ users from IntelliQuest, www.intelliquest.com ;

1995: CommerceNet/Nielsen

(1) Feb. ‘00 total; (2) Nov. ‘99 total; (3) Jan. ‘99 total; (4) Nov. ‘97 total