BBC News’ interactive graphic shows the growth of the Internet worldwide by comparison. In 1998, just a handful of countries had notable Internet use: USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden.
If you move the cursor to the right, you will see how quickly the Internet was adopted in Western Europe. In 2005, 31% of the population in most European countries was online. The digital divide can also be seen very clearly in places such as Africa, where the numbers are still very low.
