About one-third of the world’s population is still not connected to the Internet, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said in Geneva on Tuesday.
From 2.7 billion people last year, the figure has dropped to 2.6 billion, it said.
“This improvement in connectivity is another step in the right direction,” said the ITU’s secretary general, Doreen Bogdan-Martin. She promised further efforts to make progress, since such efforts need to be accelerated if the goal of connectivity for all by 2030 is to be achieved.
According to estimates, progress remains greatest in developing countries, where the connectivity rate has risen by almost 20% over a year.
However, only a third of people in these countries are connected.
