9 countries with the most Internet users

Review of the best according to the editorial board. On the selection criteria. This material is subjective, does not constitute advertising and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.

The digital age in which we live has arrived quite recently. When the prototype of the Internet appeared in the United States, few people expected that this network would fill the whole world – then its only purpose was communication between scientists and the military. Even science fiction writers, when describing the world of the future, rarely depicted in it something like today's world network.

The World Wide Web, accessible to everyone, appeared much later, in 1991. But even then, only a few enthusiastic people were connected to it – techies-intellectuals, “geeks”. And this is only in developed countries, in developing people simply could not afford a computer – then the only access device. It was at that time that a kind of Internet culture emerged, including some of the memes that are still used today.

However, according to some old users, the “golden age” of the Internet ended in the zero years of our century. People without specific interests came to the world wide web, wishing in this way to expand the possibilities of communication. Then social networks began to appear in their modern form. At the same time, Internet business and remote work were developing.

Now residents of even the poorest countries can afford access to the network. Therefore, the largest representation on the Internet are those states that surpass others in terms of population, and development becomes a secondary factor. Let's see which of them are leading in terms of the number of World Wide Web users.

List of countries with the most Internet users

1st place: China (772 million users)

Rating: 5.0

The first country in terms of population also ranks first in the number of people represented on the Internet. Just over half (53%) of all Chinese use the network. Almost all users are connected via high speed connections.

The share of the Chinese language on the Internet, however, is not high – less than 2%. Chinese people usually communicate with foreigners in English. At the same time, the “Golden Shield” traffic filtering system operates in the country, which seriously limits the ability of residents to interact with the rest of the world. It is unofficially called the “Great Firewall of China”, by analogy with the Great Wall of China.

The Golden Shield filters all Internet traffic to China from other countries. Sites with information that tarnish the Chinese government and individual pages tracked by keywords are being blocked. All news taken from foreign sources can be published only after special approval.

2nd place: India (700 million users)

Rating: 4.9

India is called a “land of contrasts” – here wealth and modern technology can directly coexist with poverty and backwardness. This is reflected in the situation with the Internet – while some not only use the World Wide Web, but also earn with its help, others have almost no idea about it.

A little more than a third of India's residents use the Internet – 34%. Until recently, Internet access was quite expensive, and only a few could afford it. However, even then, programming began to develop rapidly in India. Now it is the main source of income for many educated residents of the country. Western companies often turn to Indian firms when they need “inexpensive” IT specialists.

Of course, Indians not only work on the Internet, but also communicate and look for information on it. Like the Chinese, the Indian government seeks to control what is happening on the network. However, the country does not have the opportunity to build a system similar to the Golden Shield. Therefore, censorship is of a more targeted nature, only certain resources are blocked. Also, in some regions, a complete shutdown of the Internet “from above” was used to prevent unrest.

3rd place: USA (312 million users)

Rating: 4.8

The USA is the country that “created the Internet”. It was in the United States that he began his existence. Back in 1969, the ARPANET appeared here, through which a message was first transmitted over a distance of 640 km. In the 1970s, e-mail was already working, and in the 1990s, the Internet appeared in its modern form.

Back then, at the end of the 20th century, America had a cheap and relatively fast connection that no other country could boast. Therefore, even before the millennium, many netizens appeared in the United States, now they are 76% of the total population. However, in the future, prices only began to rise, and the quality of communication almost did not increase, and now the United States has a much slower and more expensive Internet than in European countries.

The lag of the “homeland of the Internet” from other countries has several reasons. This is the lobbying policy of the state, which reduces competition between companies, and the fact that significant changes require the restructuring of what was created in the last century. Countries that have received new technologies in a “ready-made” form do not have this problem.

4th place: Brazil (124 million users)

Rating: 4.7

Brazil is a country that largely “lives over the Internet”. Brazilians love to spend time on social media, and official documents such as tax returns are submitted electronically. It even has its own “Internet constitution” – Marco Civil da Internet.

In the Marco Civil law, the state affirms the principle of equal access for all its inhabitants to the World Wide Web – in practice, this means that residents of remote regions and villages must have the same quality of communication as everyone else. Also, this “constitution” prohibits providers to restrict access or slow down the loading of certain resources, giving preference to others – that is, it requires compliance with “Internet neutrality”.

Brazilian network legislation is considered one of the most progressive in the world. Thanks to the “neutrality” spelled out in Marco Civil, residents can use the Internet to organize protests as well. At the same time, the country is striving for “sovereignty” of the network – one of the incarnations of the idea is the project to build an underwater fiber-optic cable connecting Brazil with Europe bypassing the United States.

5th place: Indonesia (133 million users)

Rating: 4.6

In Indonesia, the Internet began to massively penetrate quite recently, and only 50% of the inhabitants are present in it. Basically, it is mastered by people of the younger generation (15-19 years old). The network is mainly used for reading news and communicating, remote work and Internet interaction with government authorities are not yet developed. Also some Indonesians trade online on forums. At the same time, traditional online stores are poorly represented here.

Sociability is a characteristic feature of the locals. Indonesians post 7.5% of all tweets, the country has the second largest number of accounts in the world Facebook. Internet censorship is almost undeveloped here, the authorities strive to block only “offensive” content – for example, pornography, gambling and negative opinions about Islam. Also, the Ministry of Defense of Indonesia plans to create a “cyber army” to protect government portals from the hacker attacks to which they are often exposed.

6th place: Japan (118 million users)

Rating: 4.5

Japan is known as a country of “high technology”. New computers and smartphones are created here, and online games that are interesting to the whole world are released. Almost all Japanese are familiar with the Internet – 94% of the country's inhabitants are represented there. At the same time, not all of them know how to handle a computer or laptop, many go online exclusively from the phone.

It was in Japan that imageboards appeared – anonymous picture forums with their own specific culture. Therefore, the slang of these online communities around the world contains borrowings from the Japanese language – the words “chan” and “kun” are examples.

Japan is considered a country with a free Internet from government regulations. On the other hand, self-censorship is very developed and encouraged here – non-governmental organizations, administrators of websites and forums monitor order in the network.

Internet addiction is a common problem in the country. The word “hikikomori” is used to refer to people “living online” and avoiding any social contact outside of it. But even many socialized Japanese people are often “tied” to the network.

Addiction is especially common among Japanese teenagers, where every member of the group (class, friendly company) is expected to have a constant presence on certain sites and an immediate response to any post in the form of a “like” or comment. Those who remain silent are bullied or outcast. This is how an attachment to the virtual space is formed, which then follows into adulthood.

7th place: Russia (110 million users)

Rating: 4.4

The Internet came to Russia in 1990, when the Relcom network emerged, connecting different parts of the Soviet Union, and was later connected to the world network. Then the domain .su (Soviet Union) was registered. The first country to be contacted was Finland.

The Russian Internet itself appeared in 1994, when the .ru domain was registered. Before the millennium, only a few people mastered this network, in addition to it, Fidonet was popular – an independent free text communication system tied to landline phones. After 2000, the number of Fido users began to decline, and gradually the Internet replaced it.

Now at least 76% of Russians use the World Wide Web. Communication in Russia is considered one of the cheapest and highest quality in the world, which is ensured by the presence of competition between providers. A feature of the Russian segment is its relative autonomy in relation to the global Internet – people communicate primarily with their compatriots, not foreigners. For this reason, Russian is used for communication – in terms of frequency of use on the network, it ranks second after English.

8th place: Nigeria (92 million users)

Rating: 4.3

Nigeria is an African country that is often compared to Russia. Here the population size, life expectancy, economic indicators are similar. However, in the development of the worldwide network, the country lags behind Russia noticeably. Until recently, only one tenth of the population of Nigeria used the Internet. Now more than 47% of the inhabitants are represented in it.

Nigeria is the first country where the mobile Internet began to overtake the landline. This happened back in 2011, when its use around the world was much less than it is now. Popular here are not expensive smartphones with many features, but cheap ones with limited functionality, but capable of providing Internet access.

The country is also famous for the phenomenon of “Nigerian letters” – spam sent with the aim of extracting money. A typical feature of such mailings is that the sender appears to be the holder of huge amounts of money and asks for help in carrying out any transactions with them, promising a percentage of the amount. If the recipient agrees, the fraudster begins to extort money from him, but does not transfer the promised amount afterwards.

Such “letters” were circulated even before the advent of the Internet – they were sent in paper form. The fraud is organized quite professionally – spammers can have their own sites, the legend is often confirmed by Nigerian banks and the government. With funds extorted in this way, there are some Islamic groups within Nigeria.

9th place: Mexico (85 million users)

Rating: 4.2

The history of the Internet in Mexico began in 1989, when the National Autonomous University joined it. At the time, it was assumed that this type of communication would only be for scientific communication. Now it has been mastered by 65% ​​of residents who communicate and do business in it. Few people here can afford a good computer, because, like in Nigeria, they mostly go online from their mobile phones.

Network coverage in Mexico is very uneven. There are regular problems with the Internet – even farmers burning garbage damage the cables. However, Mexicans love to spend time online – on average, every user from here is online 8 hours a day. Even older people often hang out on social media. The easiest way to rent an apartment here is through your friends in the chat.

The use of the Internet for business is specific here. Many go online to avoid dealing with local cartels demanding tribute from successful dealers. However, even here people try not to shout about their success, so as not to attract the attention of the mafia.

Attention! This rating is subjective and does not constitute an advertisement and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.