Worldwide, 82 per cent of urban dwellers are using the Internet in 2022. That percentage is 1.8 times as high as the percentage of Internet users in rural areas. Over the last three years, the ratio has decreased from 2.3 to 1.8, as rural areas gradually catch up.
The urban-rural gap has been essentially bridged in Europe (ratio of 1.1). Elsewhere, it is wide but narrowing. For instance, in Africa, 64 per cent of urban dwellers use the Internet in 2022 compared with 23 per cent of people in rural areas, a ratio of 2.8; but that is down from nearly 4 in 2019. In the Asia-Pacific region, the ratio is 1.8, down from 2.4 three years ago.