Nearly half of global population now online

The report, Digital in 2016, from We Are Social, also revealed that there are currently 2.31bn social media users globally. Most of these are mobile social media users: there are 1.97bn of these, representing 27% global penetration respectively. 

Of all regions, Asia Pacific recorded the largest absolute growth in internet users in the last year, with an increase of nearly 200m users – representing 12% year-on-year growth. This equates to half a million people using the internet for the first time every single day. 

With regard to individual market penetration, Iceland came out on top with 98% penetration and North Korea came out bottom, with just 0.03% penetration. 

"More than half of the world’s adult population now uses the internet, and well over one-third of the adult population uses social media at least once a month," the report stated. "Our study of the Key 30 economies – which account for 70% of the world’s population – shows that nearly three-quarters of internet users access the net every single day, and this is still increasing at an impressive rate. People now expect everything to be connected, from their real-time public transport schedule, to the voting system, to real-time stock availability in physical world stores.

"The internet is no longer just an information portal; it’s the ‘electricity’ of modern society and commerce connecting us to the people and things we care about most. As a result, businesses and brands need to explore how connectivity can improve every element of their business, not just their advertising."