[OC] Most of humanity has been connected to the internet for only a brief moment in history
Posted by cgiattino
![[OC] Most of humanity has been connected to the internet for only a brief moment in history](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/fd0zxnvjuxxe1-1229x1536.png "[OC] Most of humanity has been connected to the internet for only a brief moment in history")
[OC] Most of humanity has been connected to the internet for only a brief moment in history
Posted by cgiattino
14 Comments
Data source: International Telecommunications Union via the World Bank (2025)
Tools used: I made this along with [my colleague Simon](https://ourworldindata.org/team/simon-van-teutem) using the [Our World in Data Grapher tool](https://github.com/owid/owid-grapher) and finishing touches in Figma.
Here is the text Simon wrote along with it:
>For many readers in high-income countries, the Internet might no longer feel revolutionary. But when I was born in 1997, only 2% of the world’s population used the Internet. By 2019, that number had risen to over 50%; today, two-thirds of the global population is online.
>It’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the novelty and speed of this change for two reasons. First, much of the potential progress enabled by the Internet is still unfolding, from expanding educational opportunities through free online resources to [reducing the cost](https://ourworldindata.org/great-global-redistributor-money-sent-brought-back-migrants-remittances?tab=t.0) of sending money home for migrants.
>Second, it’s good to remember that in 2023, a third of people still didn’t use the Internet. Accelerating connectivity could give these individuals greater freedom and access to new opportunities. The United Nations [aims to get more than 90% of people online ](https://www.un.org/digital-emerging-technologies/sites/www.un.org.techenvoy/files/general/Universal_Connectivity_Summary_PDF.pdf)by 2030. Some regions are still far from universal access, with just [43% of South Asia and 37% of Sub-Saharan Africa](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-individuals-using-the-internet) connected.
>[Explore more data on Internet use, country by country](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-individuals-using-the-internet?tab=map) →
Where’s that dial-up map when ya need it…?
Nitpicking, but isn’t internet in general available only for a brief moment in the history? I assume you mean history of mankind, so the last decades in comparison are a very brief moment.
It’s freaky to me that my professional career as a software developer completely encompasses the lifespan of the internet and that there is still crappy code of mine out there propping up shit that’s older than my kids.
Been on the internet since 1992. Thanks dad!
God, I miss the internet from the 1990s.
Never really realized as a kid in 1997 how privileged we were to have access to the internet. We weren’t wealthy or anything just lucky to live where we could get it.
My first experience was around in 1999 but I was too young to understand and appreciate it, I bought and installed a 56K modem in around 2003 and used it for a couple of years, before that I used internet cafes, and used a floppy drive to copy internet articles and cool games wallpaper lol
Aaand we fucked up democracy while we were at it
Looks like we’re all just one Wi-Fi connection away from world peace at this point.
My wife only started to use the Internet in 2018 and it was only available in her country with slow public wifi mostly in public parks (Cuba).
I vividly remember using the Internet in 1997 and my oldest account still in existence anywhere is my Neopets account from 2001.
Internet exists for only a brief moment in history
#
you can tell. all the people too stupid to work it out before are screaming bullshit all over social media now.
200k years is small compared to 4.5 billion years.