Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. Which countries got online fastest?
  2. What share of people use the internet in each country?

Chart 1 of 2 · World

Which countries got online fastest?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

Over the 10 years to 2024, the share of people using the internet rose most in Kiribati, by 77.2 percentage points, and in Iraq, by 69.8. The world's share grew by 33.8 points, the United States' by 21.7 and India's by 51.4. Countries that were already almost all online could only grow a little. The smallest change was -3.6 points, in Japan; a fall can come from a change in how a country measures internet use. Each bar is a country's share in 2024 minus its share 10 years earlier; 179 countries and territories had both figures, and places missing either are left out. It counts people who used the internet at least once in the previous three months.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Chart 2 of 2 · World

What share of people use the internet in each country?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

In 2024, 94.7% of people in the United States used the internet and 64.9% in India. The highest share was 100%, and the lowest 8.6%, in Burundi. 182 countries and territories had a 2024 figure. It counts people who used the internet at least once in the previous three months; places without a 2024 figure are left out.

How to read this chart

Each bar is the share of a country's people who used the internet in the previous three months. The dashed line is the whole world. The chart opens on the top and bottom of the ranking; search for a country to find its bar among the rest.

Questions to discuss

  1. Find the United States and one country on another continent. How far apart are their shares?
  2. What do the countries at the bottom of the ranking have in common? What might keep people there offline?
  3. The world figure is closer to the bottom than many rich countries are to the top. Why might that be?

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