UN report: Majority of world yet to use internet

Growth in the number of people with access to the internet is slowing, and more than half of the world’s population is still offline, the United Nations Broadband Commission has said.

It said internet access in rich economies is reaching saturation levels, but 90% of people in the 48 poorest countries have none.

The access growth rate is expected to slow to 8.1% this year, down from 8.6% in 2014. Until 2012, growth rates had been in double digits for years. “We have reached a transition point in the growth of the internet,” the report said.