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Internet - PANOS Briefing: The Internet & Poverty - Real Help or Real Hype?

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Summary

Internet - PANOS Briefing: The Internet and Poverty - Real Help or Real Hype?



Data and Trends

  1. Access and use of the Internet is accelerating faster in developing countries than anywhere else - by 2001 users in Africa,


  2. Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern and Central Europe will have almost quadrupled from today's 7.6 million to 25.6 million.


  3. Asia-Pacific growth will be even faster - from 6.5 million users today to 29.3 million in 2001


  4. By comparison the number of web users I the USA will double from 51.6 million to 106.8 million, with a similar doubling in Western Europe.


  5. However, in the developing world, the Internet will still only available to a small percentage of the population


  6. In Africa all but 4 countries now have Internet connectivity: 700,000 people use basic internet services [mainly email]


  7. about 0.1% of the population which is a six-fold increase from three years ago.


  8. These figures need to be treated with caution - in Africa, for example, South Africa accounted for more than 48,000 of 50,000 "hosts" on the African continent


  9. Globally 63% of users are male and 37% are female - ratio that has remained static for a number of years. The Association for Progressive Communications claims that male domination of the Internet could be as high as 95%.


  10. In comparison with other technologies in Africa - radio covers 75% of the population; television 40%; and the Internet 0.1%


  11. Further access in developing countries is constrained by low access to telephones - on average 1.5 people in every 100 have access to a telephone. 80% of the world's population has no access to a telephone.


  12. Of the world's 16 million Internet host computers, two-thirds are located in North America


  13. However, fastest growth in computer sales is in developing countries - in Africa increasing by 12% per year

Source:

PANOS Media Briefing no.28; April 1998; ‘The Internet and Poverty"; available from PANOS 9 White Lion Street, London N1 9PD, U.K. or on internet at the PANOS website.


Contact:

Panos Institute

info@panos.org.uk

James Deane

James.Deane@bbc.co.uk


On the basis of this and other data the Briefing moves to assess the potential impact of the Internet on poverty - highlighting the opportunities and the issue and constraints