Only 6% of world population use Internet: survey

A new study by market researchers at Ipsos-Reid found that only six per cent

of the world population has access to the Internet. The vast majority of the

Earth’s population neither has the need, access to the equipment, nor the

money to afford Internet access.

Rather than lack of funds, the top reason for not being connected to the

cyber community, was that 40 per cent of those surveyed in some 30 countries,

said they didn’t feel the need to be online. Another 25 per cent cited lack of

interest. On the positive side, 30 per cent said they are kept from becoming

surfers because of a lack of access to the hardware equipment to get online.

That obviously opens a huge market opportunity for companies who are able to

bring online access to those who cannot afford to buy their own computer or who

don’t know how. Another 16 per cent who said they have not yet been online

reported that the main reason was they did not know how to get there.

"In the developed world, a substantial number of people who could very

easily go online have decided not to," said Ipsos-Reid senior

vice-president Brian Cruikshank. "They see no compelling reason to be on

the Web. The hype and the promise of the Internet clearly hasn't impressed them

-- not yet at least." The Ipsos-Reid study found that some 400 million

people use the Web daily. The most intense Internet use is in Sweden with 65 per

cent of the population using the Internet frequently followed by 60 per cent in

Canada, and 59 per cent in the United States. Because of the size of its

population, USA accounts for more than a third of all frequent Internet users.

One of the lowest areas of Internet access was found in urban India where

just nine per cent of the population has Internet access. "In less

developed markets, the cost of accessing the Internet competes directly with the

cost for basic necessities and access availability is very limited outside urban

areas," said Cruikshank. In other countries, including South Korea and

urban markets in Malaysia, India, Mexico, and South Africa, there is a strong

desire to join the online community, but there is simply no access available.

"Far from being dead, the Internet has a large growth potential

everywhere, but progress is destined to be slower than its most enthusiastic

advocates might have envisioned a few years ago," Cruikshank said.