U.S. has 33% Share of Internet Users Worldwide Year-end 2000
April
24, 2001 - According to the Computer Industry Almanac Inc. there
were over 400 million Internet users worldwide at year-end 2000--up
from less than 200 million Internet users at year-end 1998. The U.S.
had over 134 million Internet users or nearly 33% of the total at year-end
2000. The top 15 countries shown in the following table account for
nearly 78% of the worldwide Internet users at year-end 2000. These numbers
include adult Internet users with weekly usage in businesses and homes.
An Internet User is defined as being over 16 years of age and uses the
Internet on a regular or occasional basis.
Most notable is the appearance of Russia on our top 15 list of countries. Russia jumped from 1.4 million Internet Users year-end 1998 to 7.5 million in 2000. That's more than a 5-fold increase in the number of Internet users in Russia in only 2 years. Most Russians do not have their own ISP account, but use the Internet at school and other public places. Weekly or active Internet users were only 3 million at year-end 2000. Russia had over 4 million users year-end 1999.
Most of the Internet user growth is now coming from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Much growth is also coming from wireless Internet use via web cell phones and this will be especially important in Asia.
Top 15 Countries in Internet Users at Year-End 2000
| Rank | Country | Weekly Internet Users (#M) | All Internet Users (#M) |
| 1 | U.S. |
114.4
|
134.6
|
| 2 | Japan |
25.4
|
33.9
|
| 3 | Germany |
14.9
|
19.9
|
| 4 | Canada |
13.1
|
15.4
|
| 5 | U.K. |
12.6
|
16.8
|
| 6 | South Korea |
12.4
|
19.0
|
| 7 | China |
11.3
|
22.5
|
| 8 | Italy |
9.3
|
12.5
|
| 9 | France |
6.3
|
9.0
|
| 10 | Australia |
5.3
|
7.6
|
| 11 | Taiwan |
4.5
|
7.0
|
| 12 | Netherlands |
4.1
|
5.5
|
| 13 | Sweden |
3.8
|
4.4
|
| 14 | Spain |
3.6
|
5.6
|
| 15 | Russia |
3.0
|
7.5
|
| -- | Top 15 Countries |
244.0
|
321.2
|
| -- | West Europe |
54.6
|
73.7
|
| -- | Worldwide |
299.6
|
413.7
|
These are results from a report by Computer Industry Almanac Inc. that estimates the number of Internet users in 50 countries from 1990 to 2000 with projections for each year 2001 to 2005. Note that these numbers on average are 28% higher when occasional Internet users are included.
There will be about 673 million Internet users worldwide at year-end 2002 and over 1 billion users by year-end 2005. The U.S. will grow to over 214 million Internet users in 2005, or 32% of the number of Internet users worldwide.
Computer Industry Almanac Inc. publishes the Internet Industry Almanac and Computer Industry Almanac, which have statistics, projections, salaries, trends, companies, employment, products, publications and more of the Internet and computer industries. See Market Research Reports for the complete spreadsheet availability.
