GENEVA, (Reuters) – The number of Internet users will surpass two billion this year, approaching a third of the world population, but developing countries need to step up access to the vital tool for economic growth, a United Nations agency said yesterday.
Users have doubled in the past five years, and compare with an estimated global population of 6.9 billion, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said.
Of 226 million new Internet users this year, 162 million will be from developing countries where growth rates are now higher, the ITU said in a report.
However, by the end of 2010, 71 percent of the population in developed countries will be online compared with 21 percent of people in developing countries.
