Measuring the Information Society

The report notes that despite the recent economic downturn, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services, such as mobile phones and the Internet, continues to grow worldwide. By the end of 2009, there were an estimated 4.6 billion mobile cellular subscriptions; corresponding to 67 per 100 inhabitants globally Internet use has also continued to expand, albeit at a slower pace.

Furthermore, in 2009, an estimated 26 per cent of the world’s population (or 1.7 billion people) were using the Internet. In developed countries the percentage remains much higher than in the developing world where four out of five people are still excluded from the benefits of being online. China alone accounted for one-third of Internet users in the developing world.

The report finds that ICTs can have important economic and socio-economic benefi ts, including those on a range of development goals. Analysis using ICT household data reveals that better educational performance has a positive statistical association with greater household Internet