The day when most people in the world are online is not far off according to the UN. And it’s cost rather than logistics that is the main barrier for nearly all the rest.

The UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates that 47.1 percent of the world’s population now uses the Internet and that could reach the 50 percent mark by the end of the year. The number of subscriptions to mobile data services is almost the same as the number of people in the world, though that’s somewhat meaningless as it’s distorted by many people having multiple subscriptions (eg personal and work.)

It’s not physical availability that’s stopping more people getting online. The ITU estimates that 95 percent of people live in an area with cellular coverage, while 84 percent could access mobile data at “broadband” speeds. The gap is instead partly down to demographics (naturally young kids and very elderly people are less likely to own Internet devices) but mainly because of a lack of affordability.

In particular it’s the up-front cost of handsets (or computers) that is the problem in developing nations rather than the data subscription costs. There’s also something of a vicious circle as people in areas with few mobile internet users are less likely to see internet access as beneficial.

(Image credit: By Victorgrigas (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)