Digital Life
How many people go online for the first time every day?
About 805,000 people go online for the first time every day, adding up to 294 million in the 12 months to October 2025. That pushed the global total to 6.04 billion users, 73.2% of the world, crossing the 6-billion mark for the first time. A significant part of that jump came from upward statistical revisions for India and China, not purely new connections. About 2.2 billion people remain offline, mostly because of cost, missing infrastructure, and limited content in local languages.
Roughly 9.32 people every second.
Source: ITU ICT Statistics (2024); GSMA Mobile Internet Report 2024.
Last checked: 18 October 2026
What 2.2 billion people still offline means for the internet you use every day
The 2.2 billion people still not connected to the internet are not a distant abstraction. They shape the web you use right now. Nearly all new internet growth is happening in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which means the next billion users will speak different languages, use cheaper lower-power devices, and rely on very different applications than the existing base. That shift is already changing what developers build and which cultures get represented online.
The divide is also qualitative. Of the 6 billion people online, many have only low-bandwidth mobile access and cannot reliably stream video, run modern web apps, or reach cloud services. Being "connected" covers a wide range. If you live in a high-bandwidth environment, you are in a global minority, and most of the web is still built for you.
At 805,000 new users per day, connecting most of the remaining offline population would take until the early 2030s. The barriers are economic (cost of data), structural (no local infrastructure), and educational (limited digital literacy). AnythingCounter's figure counts people crossing that threshold for the first time today.
Internet access by the numbers: 6 billion connected, 2.2 billion to go
DataReportal Digital 2026 (Oct 2025): 6.04 billion internet users globally (73.2% of world population) – the first time the 6-billion mark has been crossed
DataReportal Digital 2026: ~294 million net new internet users in the 12 months to October 2025 (+5.1% YoY), roughly 805,000 per day; partly driven by upward statistical revisions for India and China
About 2.2 billion people remain offline (26.8% of world population); most in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Internet penetration: high-income countries ~94%; sub-Saharan Africa ~36%; least developed countries ~34%
Between 2020 and October 2025, over 1.4 billion people came online as global penetration grew from ~60% to ~73.2%
DataReportal Digital 2026 Mid-Year Update: internet users have now passed 6 billion worldwide (73.2% of the global population); 5.66 billion active social media users; 1 billion people now use AI every month
Global internet user growth, 2010-2025
Internet adoption crossed 50% of the world's population in 2019 and reached 73.2% by October 2025, when the total number of users passed 6 billion for the first time (DataReportal Digital 2026). Growth has accelerated partly due to major statistical revisions in India and China, but the underlying trend of mobile-first adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia continues.
| Year | Rate (/s) | Daily total | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6.3/s | 548K | Rapid growth phase; mobile internet emerging |
| 2015 | 6.3/s | 548K | Emerging markets expansion; mobile-first |
| 2019 | 12/s | 1.0M | Growth slowing in developed markets |
| 2022 | 3.1/s | 268K | Post-COVID; growth slowing; remaining unconnected are harder to reach |
| 2024 | 3.1/s | 265K | Growth trough; structural barriers in remaining unconnected regions |
| 2025 | 9.3/s | 805K | 6-billion milestone crossed; partly driven by India/China statistical revisions; underlying mobile-first growth continues |
| 2028 (forecast) | 5.4/s | 465K | Satellite internet (Starlink) reaches rural Africa/Asia; remaining unconnected get access |
New internet users vs. new websites, today
Every day, hundreds of thousands of people come online for the first time while thousands of new websites launch. The web keeps growing, though not at the same rate on both sides.
The next 2 billion: who remains offline and why
The next billion
The first billion people to get online largely came from wealthy countries with existing networks. The next few billion needed cheaper phones and data plans. The 4th and 5th billion came in through smartphones, skipping landline internet entirely. What remains is harder: parts of rural Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia with no mobile coverage; devices that cost more than a week's wages; content that does not exist in local languages. SpaceX Starlink, national broadband programs, and several others are working on this, with uneven results so far.
Mobile as the great equaliser
Over 95% of new internet connections in developing regions are mobile-first: people go online exclusively via smartphone, not desktop or laptop. In India and sub-Saharan Africa, "mobile-first" is often "mobile-only." That has opened real doors: agricultural price data, mobile banking (M-Pesa in Kenya), health information, and government services have reached populations that were previously cut off from them. The tradeoff is that bandwidth-heavy applications, video, AR/VR, AI interfaces, may stay out of reach for the newest users for years.
Research data
| Year | Finding | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | ITU: 2.0 billion internet users (~29% of world population); growth ~15% annually | 2.0B internet users (2010) | DataReportal |
| 2015 | ITU: 3.2 billion users (~43%); mobile internet drives growth in developing regions | 3.2B internet users (2015) | DataReportal |
| 2019 | DataReportal: 4.1 billion users (~53.6%); ~1M new users/day; mobile-first in Africa and Asia | 4.1B internet users (2019) | DataReportal |
| 2020 | COVID accelerates adoption; ~4.6 billion users (60%); lockdowns drive digital adoption in developing regions | 4.6B internet users (2020) | DataReportal |
| 2022 | DataReportal: ~5.0 billion users; ~98M new users that year; ITU revised figure suggests 150M+ new users | 5.0B internet users (2022) | DataReportal |
| 2024 | DataReportal 2024: 5.35 billion users (66.2%); ~97M new users in 2023; ~265,000/day | 5.3B internet users (2024) | DataReportal |
| 2025 | DataReportal 2025 (Jan 2025): 5.56 billion internet users (67.7%); +210M from Jan 2024; ~575,000 new users/day (pre-revision baseline) | 5.6B internet users (Jan 2025) | DataReportal |
| 2025 | DataReportal Digital 2026 (Oct 2025): 6.04 billion users (73.2%); +294M over 12 months (+5.1% YoY); ~805,000 new users/day; partly reflects major upward revisions for India and China | 6.0B internet users (Oct 2025) | DataReportal |
Internet access history: from 16 million to 6 billion users
- 1993Public launch of the World Wide Web; ~1 million users globally
- 2005ITU: 1 billion internet users (15.8% of world population)
- 2010ITU: 2 billion internet users (29%); mobile internet begins mass adoption
- 2014Mobile and tablet internet usage exceeds desktop for the first time worldwide (StatCounter, October 2016)
- 20204.6 billion users (60%); COVID lockdowns accelerate digital adoption
- 2024DataReportal: 5.35 billion users (66.2%); ~265,000 new users per day
- 2025DataReportal Mid-Year 2026: internet users pass 6 billion (73.2% of world population); social media users reach 5.66 billion; 1 billion monthly AI users
In perspective
805,000 new internet users per day means a new community roughly the size of San Francisco goes online every 24 hours
The 2.2 billion people still offline are more than the roughly 2 billion people who were online globally in 2010
Frequently asked questions
- How many people go online for the first time each day?
- DataReportal's Digital 2026 report (October 2025) counted 6.04 billion internet users globally, up 294 million over the preceding 12 months (+5.1% YoY), which works out to about 805,000 net new users per day. A significant part of that increase reflects upward revisions in officially reported adoption figures for India and China, not purely new connections. Most of the organic growth is in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where mobile-first adoption is still accelerating.
- How many people have never used the internet?
- As of October 2025, approximately 2.2 billion people (26.8% of the world) have not yet used the internet. The ITU identifies the main barriers as affordability, infrastructure absence, digital literacy, and locally relevant content. Africa has the lowest penetration at ~36%, while high-income countries are above 94%.
- Is internet access growth slowing down?
- Growth figures are now complicated by statistical revisions: DataReportal Digital 2026 shows +294 million new users in the 12 months to October 2025, significantly higher than the 210 million/year measured in 2024 – largely due to India and China revising their reported adoption figures upward. Underlying organic growth in new markets (Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia) continues, but the remaining unconnected population faces structural barriers that require investment beyond simply providing affordable devices.
Cite this rate
AnythingCounter derived rate, last checked October 2026: about 805,479 people per day.
Method: Based on DataReportal 2026; DataReportal / Meltwater / We Are Social 2026, shown as a daily rate.
Suggested citation: AnythingCounter, "People using the internet for the first time," October 2026, https://anythingcounter.com/new-internet-users-per-day
Primary source: DataReportal; DataReportal / Meltwater / We Are Social.
How this number is calculated, and how much to trust it
DataReportal's Digital 2026 Global Overview Report (published October 2025) shows 6.04 billion internet users at the start of October 2025, a net increase of 294 million over the preceding 12 months (+5.1% YoY). 294,000,000 ÷ 365 days = ~805,479 net new users per day ÷ 86,400 seconds ≈ 9.32/sec. Note: DataReportal attributes part of this jump to major upward revisions in reported internet adoption rates for India and China by official national bodies, not entirely organic new connections. The live counter uses the published net growth figure as the best available rate. The previous 2025 datapoint (575,342/day from Jan 2025) was based on pre-revision figures.
The published net growth figure includes official revisions to adoption rates in India and China, not only organic new connections. For the underlying methodology, the ITU Measuring Digital Development series is the authoritative UN source.
Sources: see below. More detail on our methodology page.
Sources
DataReportal - Digital 2024: State of Internet Adoption - DataReportal - Digital 2026 Global Overview Report - DataReportal - Digital 2026 Mid-Year Global Update Report (April 2026: 6.12 billion internet users / 73.8 % of world population; 5.79 billion social media user identities) - DataReportal - Digital 2025: Global Overview Report.
Worth a look... Internet traffic - New websites created - IoT devices shipped.