While the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic boosted internet access worldwide, some 2.9-billion people, mostly in developing countries, remain offline.

New data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) shows strong global growth in Internet use, with the estimated number of people who have used the Internet surging to 4.9-billion in 2021, from an estimated 4.1-billion in 2019.

The measures implemented to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, such as widespread lockdowns and school closures, along with people’s need for access to news, government services, health updates, e-commerce and online banking, led to an unusually sharp rise in the number of people online, contributing to what the ITU calls the “Covid connectivity boost” that brought an estimated 782-million additional people online since 2019, an increase of 17%.

The 2021 edition of the ITU’s Facts and Figures report further shows the number of Internet users globally expanded by more than 10% in the first year of the pandemic, the largest yearly increase in a decade.

While the strong growth since 2019 was largely driven by increases in developing countries, where Internet penetration climbed more than 13%, and the more than 20% average increase recorded in the 46 United Nations- (UN-) designated least-developed countries (LDCs), ITU data confirms that the ability to connect remains profoundly unequal – the world’s poorest are being left behind.

“These statistics show great progress towards the ITU’s mission to connect the world. “But a vast connectivity chasm remains in the LDCs, where almost three-quarters of people have never connected to the Internet,” says ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau director Doreen Bogdan-Martin.

According to the ITU, 96% of the estimated 37%, or 2.9-billion, of the world’s population that have never used the Internet live in developing countries.

Further, among the 4.9-billion counted as Internet users, many hundreds of millions may only get the chance to go online infrequently, through shared devices or using connectivity speeds that markedly limit the usefulness of their connection.

“While almost two-thirds of the world’s population is now online, there is a lot more to do to get everyone connected to the Internet,” says ITU secretary general Houlin Zhao.

While the digital gender divide is narrowing globally, large gaps remain in poorer countries, the ITU notes, highlighting that women in LDCs are particularly marginalised, with about four out of every five still offline.

Globally, an average of 62% of men use the Internet, compared with 57% of women.

ITU data also shows that the urban-rural gap, while less severe in developed countries, remains a major challenge for digital connectivity in the rest of the world.

Globally, people in urban areas, at 76%, are twice as likely to use the Internet as those in rural areas, at 39%.

“In developed economies, the urban-rural gap appears negligible in terms of Internet use, with 89% of people in urban areas having used the Internet in the last three months, compared with 85% in rural areas, whereas in developing countries people in urban areas are twice as likely to use the Internet as those in rural areas (72% urban, compared with 34% rural),” the ITU says.

ITU figures also point to a glaring gap between digital network availability and actual connection.

“While 95% of people in the world could theoretically access a third-generation or fourth-generation mobile broadband network, billions of them do not connect.”

In addition to the barriers of the affordability of devices and services, many digitally excluded citizens face challenges such as poverty, illiteracy, limited access to electricity and lack of digital skills and awareness.

“The widely accepted target for affordable broadband connectivity in developing countries sets the cost of an entry-level mobile broadband package at 2% of gross national income (GNI) per capita,” Bogdan-Martin explains.

“Yet in some of the world’s poorest nations, getting online can cost a staggering 20% or more of per capita GNI.”