Global Internet Usage Rate

2005–2025Source: Dünya Bankası / ITU — Dünya İnternet Kullanım Oranı (IT.NET.USER.ZS)

In 2005 the internet reached only 15.6% of the world's population; by 2025 that share had risen to 73.6%, and the number of users to 6.05 billion. Over 20 years the internet stopped being a limited technology and became the basic infrastructure of education, health care, commerce, and public services.

Turkey moved clearly ahead of the world average over the same period: in 2005 the two figures were almost identical (Turkey 15.5%, world 15.6%), while in 2025 Turkey stands at 89.8% and the world at 73.6%. Even so, roughly 2.17 billion people worldwide are still offline. The table below lists the internet usage rate of 57 countries in descending order; Turkey ranks 29th on that list.

Latest (2025)
73.60
%
Highest
73.60
2025
Lowest
15.60
2005
Average
43.07
21 periods
Global Internet Usage Rate
020406080100200520072009201120132015201720192021202320252005 — World: 15,6 %2006 — World: 17,2 %2007 — World: 20,2 %2008 — World: 22,8 %2009 — World: 25,3 %2010 — World: 28,4 %2011 — World: 30,9 %2012 — World: 33,3 %2013 — World: 35,3 %2014 — World: 37,4 %2015 — World: 39,9 %2016 — World: 43,6 %2017 — World: 46,3 %2018 — World: 49,4 %2019 — World: 53,9 %2020 — World: 60,1 %2021 — World: 63,8 %2022 — World: 67 %2023 — World: 69,2 %2024 — World: 71,2 %2025 — World: 73,6 %2005 — Turkey: 15,5 %2006 — Turkey: 18,2 %2007 — Turkey: 28,6 %2008 — Turkey: 34,4 %2009 — Turkey: 36,4 %2010 — Turkey: 39,8 %2011 — Turkey: 43,1 %2012 — Turkey: 45,1 %2013 — Turkey: 46,3 %2014 — Turkey: 51 %2015 — Turkey: 53,7 %2016 — Turkey: 58,3 %2017 — Turkey: 64,7 %2018 — Turkey: 71 %2019 — Turkey: 74 %2020 — Turkey: 77,7 %2021 — Turkey: 81,4 %2022 — Turkey: 83,4 %2023 — Turkey: 86 %2024 — Turkey: 87,3 %2025 — Turkey: 89,8 %
WorldTurkey

Key findings

  • The global internet usage rate climbed from 15.6% to 73.6% between 2005 and 2025, a gain of 58.0 percentage points, and the number of users reached 6.05 billion.
  • Turkey rose from 15.5% to 89.8% over the same period, a gain of 74.3 percentage points, and in 2025 sits 16.2 points above the world average.
  • The fastest jump came during the pandemic: the world rate went from 53.9% in 2019 to 63.8% in 2021 — 9.9 percentage points in two years, roughly 860.8 million new users.
  • As of 2025, 26.4% of the world's population — roughly 2.17 billion people — is still offline; most of them live in low-income countries and rural areas.
  • United Arab Emirates (100.0%), Saudi Arabia (100.0%), Denmark (99.8%) sit at the top of the table; the lowest rate is 21.9%, in Ethiopia. In 28 of the 57 countries the rate is above 90%.

Countries ranked by internet usage rate

Countries ranked by internet usage rate
CountryInternet Usage (%)Data Year
Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri100,02024
Suudi Arabistan100,02024
Danimarka99,82024
Norveç99,02024
Katar98,12024
Güney Kore97,92024
İsviçre97,32025
Hollanda97,02024
Avustralya96,12024
Belçika95,82024
İsveç95,82025
İspanya95,82024
Şili95,62024
Birleşik Krallık95,52024
ABD94,72024
Rusya94,42024
Kanada94,42024
Macaristan93,82024
Finlandiya93,72024
Yeni Zelanda93,52024

Notes

The rate is the share of individuals who connected to the internet within the last three months; it does not measure how often they connect, the quality of the connection, or the time they spend online.

The data are produced by ITU, but this page takes the ITU indicator through the World Bank open data service. The source is credited accordingly, and small differences from the values in ITU's own publications are possible.

The two chart series begin with the years they have in common (2005–2025). The Turkey series goes back as far as 2000 in the source; in that year the rate stood at 3.8%.

The most recent data year differs from country to country (2024, 2025); each row's data year is therefore shown separately in the table, and the ranking compares values from different years.

The table covers the 57 countries included in the automated data pull; it does not cover every country in the world.

Values reported as 100% are rounded estimates and do not mean that the entire population is connected.

The user and offline counts are calculated by multiplying the rate by the world population for the same year; they are not figures the source publishes directly.

The series and the table are pulled again before every build. The data on this page were retrieved on 2026-08-26.

Methodology

The indicator is the share of individuals who used the internet within the last three months, from any device (computer, smartphone, tablet, game console, television) and from any location, as a percentage of the total population. The data are compiled by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU): results from national official household ICT surveys are harmonized under a common definition, and for countries without survey data an estimate is produced from subscription and infrastructure indicators. This page takes the ITU indicator through the World Bank open data service (IT.NET.USER.ZS); the World Bank is an intermediary source that republishes the ITU series, and the world, Turkey, and country values are downloaded again before every build. No rate is entered by hand. The user and offline counts are derived by multiplying the rate by the world population for the same year (World Bank, SP.POP.TOTL). Because the country table uses each country's most recent value, the data year can differ from country to country and is shown in a separate column.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people use the internet worldwide?
In 2025, 73.6% of the world's population — roughly 6.05 billion people — uses the internet. The remaining 2.17 billion are offline. These counts are obtained by multiplying the ITU rate by the World Bank's world population estimate.
How is the internet usage rate measured?
National statistical offices ask individuals in household surveys whether they used the internet within the last three months. ITU compiles these national results under a common definition to produce a comparable indicator, which is also published through the World Bank open data service. In Turkey the data come from TurkStat's survey on information and communication technology usage in households and by individuals.
What is the internet usage rate in Turkey?
According to the ITU data obtained through the World Bank, the rate in Turkey stood at 89.8% in 2025: 16.2 points above the world average, and 29th in the 57-country table. In 2000 the rate was only 3.8%.
What does the digital divide mean?
The digital divide is the gap between those who have internet access and those who do not. The highest rate in the table is 100.0% (United Arab Emirates) and the lowest is 21.9% (Ethiopia); the gap between them is 78.1 percentage points. The divide runs within countries as well as between them: usage is markedly lower in rural areas, in low-income households, and among older people and women.
Why are billions of people still offline?
The main barriers are missing infrastructure, the cost of devices and data plans relative to income, unreliable access to electricity, levels of digital skill and literacy, and the limited amount of content available in local languages. Most of these barriers occur together in low-income countries.
Which countries are above the world average?
In 2025 the world average is 73.6%. Of the 57 countries in the table, 50 are above that average, and in 28 of them the rate has passed 90%. The bottom of the table is made up largely of countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Data sourceDünya Bankası / ITU — Dünya İnternet Kullanım Oranı (IT.NET.USER.ZS)Period: 2005–2025Last updated: 2026-08-26