Asia to be 43% of Online Population in 4 years. N. America only 13%. WSJ

Asia’s share of the world’s online population will swell to 43% in four years, while North America will represent just 13% of Internet users, according to a new report by Forrester Research.

The total world-wide population of active Internet users (defined as those who have been online at least once in the past month) will be about 2.17 billion in 2014, up from 1.46 billion last year, Forrester says.

Faster adoption in Asia will lead to a widening gap in the global distribution of users. The continent will represent 43% of the world’s online population by 2013, up from 38% in 2008. The U.S. and Canada, in contrast, will see slower growth, and their share of the world-wide populace will shrink to 13%, compared with 17% in 2008.

In addition, China’s online population is poised to surpass the U.S.’s this year (though a Chinese research organization believes it already has), says analyst Zia Daniell Wigder, the report’s author. “The U.S. is not going to be the center of the Internet universe.”

Online population doesn’t directly tie to e-commerce, she added, since spending is relatively low in Asia. But the audiences in countries such as China, India and Indonesia will represent a potentially lucrative market for some businesses because of their sheer size and rapid online growth.

Read full post:  The Gap Widens in Online Population - Digits - WSJ

Comments

[Billigflug USA]

It will be interesting to see how these numbers will change the internet and how we see it. I still find it hard to believe, that there will be 1/3 of the world population online. It's just such a large number.
It's no wonder that USA and Canada will have a slower growth. They had their highest growth a few years ago and the Asian peak is still to come.