The Internet Population Stats Table for 2010

Previously... How Big Is The Internet Population (Parent post)

Note:

• The table shows the internet population stats.
• The stats have been grouped according to the 6 world regions.
• The year 2010 has been compaerd to 2000, and the % growth computed as presented in the last column.

World region	Latest 2010 Population	Population 2000	% growth
Africa	1,013,779,050	4,514,400	2,357.3%
Asia	3,834,792,852	114,304,000	621.8%
Europe	813,319,511	105,096,093	352.0%
Middle East	212,336,924	3,284,800	1,825.3%
North America	344,124,450	108,096,800	146.3%
Latin America/Caribbean	592,556,972	18,068,919	1,032.8%
Oceania/Australia	34,700,201	7,620,480	179.0%
World Total	6,845,609,960	360,985,492	444.8%

---

"The theory goes, own the browser and you own the audience, and maybe it's wallet too"

Laughs Bill Gates

---

How Big Is the Population of the Internet

Initially, my intended question was: How big is the Internet? This question provoked curiosity, curiosity led to research and research revealed two facts:

1. The Internet is a distributed body and no complete index of it exists.
2. In what terms do I want to measure the size of the Internet? - The population online? The number of indexed websites? The distinct servers on the Internet? The traffic running per second? And, the list of similar questions proved to be a long one.

Consequently, I had to narrow down my first question. I had to come up with a single metric that would quench the exact curiosity. This is how I came up with the title of this post: How Big is the Population of the Internet?

In other words, how many users are there online?

First, let's take a little excursion. Let's imagine the Internet back before Mr. Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (before 1989). Or, preferably, let's imagine this Internet after the WWW was created but before it was released by CERN to the public (before 1991). Are you getting the picture? Back then you had to use the SMTP - Simple Mail Transport Protocol, separately to send an e-mail, and chances were, you had to know it.

So, how many users do you think were there online?

We might take a different approach and look at plain facts and existing statistics.

A fact - the World Wide Web ( a system of Internet servers that supports hypertext to access several Internet Protocols, IPs, on a single interface), was one of the developments that fueled the growth of the Internet.

Statistics - The number of websites passed 1 million in 1997; over 20 billion web pages were indexed on over 20 million websites in 2002; and, the widespread use of Blogs, RSS and podcast arose in 2006.

May I ask you one last question? What is the rough estimate you have in mind right now about the population on the Internet? Millions? Billions? - another statistic is that the Internet population passed 1 billion in 2008, just to give you a clue.

So, what's the point? The answer is, Enormous Internet Growth! I bet that there is a measurable difference between when I'm typing this and when you are reading it.

When I embarked on this, finding the population online, I thought that getting the exact figures would be one hell of a research. But, information online is always just a click away. All I had to do was just type a query, visit a few sites and finally, compile the stats I have linked to below

• The Internet Population Stats Table for 2010 in comparison with the year 2000
  

---

"The Internet is so big, so powerful and so pointless that for some people, it is a complete substitute for life."

Andrew Brown.

---

The 5 Principles that Guide W3C's Mission

The World Wide Web Consortium, abbreviated as W3C, is an organization with a two-word vision: One Web. It is among the Supra-governmental organizations that control the Internet, in that, it is responsible for web standards.

Let's check out the constitution; W3C is led by Tim Berners-Lee, the Inventor of the WWW, and DR. Jeffery Jaffe, as the CEO. In their support, a staff of technical experts help in coordinating technology development and in managing the day-to-day operations of the Consortium.

Mission:
To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure the long-term growth of the web.

How does W3C work to achieve Internet Governance?
The W3C is focused to achieve its mission. This consequent to 5 principles which guide its work. These are:

1. Making the benefits of the social value of the web, such as human communication, commerce, and opportunities to share knowledge, available to all without any discrimination. - "Web for All".
2. Enabling a wide web accessibility, i.e. using devices such as Mobile phones, Smart phones, Personal digital assistants, Interactive television systems, kiosks and even certain domestic appliances. - "Web on Everything'.
3. Personalizing web experiences; Bringing authors to the web through Blogs (here we are!), wikis, etc;Flourishing market of content... - "Web for Rich Interaction".
4. Making the web a giant repository of linked data, at the same time, a giant set of services that exchange information, messages, etc. - "Web of Data and Services".
5. Supporting complex interaction among parties around the globe (you and I). - "Web of Trust".

There are many ways the web community can participate in W3C.
Check out: How to participate in W3C.

---

"The open society, the unrestricted access to knowledge, the unplanned and inhibited association of men for its furtherance - these are what may make a vast, complex, ever growing, ever changing, ever more specialized and expert technological world, nevertheless a world of human community."

J. Robert Oppenheimer.

---

The Role of ISOC in Internet Governance

The Internet Society is a professional membership society that was formed in 1992. It is one of the starring organizations that control Internet: Who Controls Internet?
By 2002, ten years later, the number of individual members, alone, was approximately 11,000 and in over 180 countries. As you are reading this, ISOC - with offices near Washington DC, USA and in Geneva, Switzerland, has more than 80 organizational and more than 28,000 individual membership base.

What's ISOC's Mission?
"To assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people through out the world."

How does ISOC govern the Internet?
The Internet Society is an active global network organization that conducts a great range of activities with the aim to help promote and pursue its mission, in all parts of the Internet and in all parts of the world.

Have I answered the question yet? No. I'm just getting started, but I promise to be brief and straight to the point.

ISOC works under 3 main categories, namely:

Standards: Other than supporting the work of the 4 standards setting bodies, ISOC also seeks to promote the understanding and appreciation of the Internet model of open, transparent processes and consensus-based decision making. The Standards setting organizations include:

• Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
• Internet Architecture Board (IAB).
• Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).
• Internet Research Task Force (IRTF).

Public Policy: Working together with governments, national and international organizations, Civil society, private sector and other parties, ISOC promotes policies about the Internet that conform to its core values.

Education: The ISOC;

1. Coordinates and delivers hands-on training, seminars and conferences on topical Internet issues.
2. Supports local and regional Internet organizations.
3. Issues briefings and white paper on Internet technologies.
4. Funds participation opportunities for Internet experts in developing countries.

ISOC's membership is open to individuals, organizations, and even groups which may form chapters according to either region or special interests.
For more details, check out Chapter membership.

---

"The future will become vivid, spreadsheets will crumble before creativity, Information will marry Entertainment, they will have many children."

Sony advertisement, Wired Magazine

---

IETF and its Focus in Internet Governance

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is one of the main technical bodies that coordinate efforts with the other 4 Supra-governmental organizations, making them 5, to achieve Internet Governance.

IETF, in description, is an international community of Network Designers, Operators, Vendors and Researchers, concerned with the development of the Internet Architecture and its Transport Protocols such as IP.

IETF does not have members. It relies on volunteers and uses 'rough consensus and running code' as its touchstone. The financial and legal framework for the activities of IETF are provided by The Internet Society (ISOC).

What's IETF's Focus?

Analysis proves that the details of IETF's operations have changed considerably as it has grown. But the same analysis points out that the basis mechanism, remains, publication of draft specification, review and independent testing by the participants, and republication.
Interoperability is the chief test of IETF's specifications becoming standards. Most of its specifications are focused on single protocols rather than tightly inter-locked systems, allowing them to be used in many different systems.

Did you know that IETF's standards are routinely re-used by bodies which create full-fledged architectures (e.g. 3GPP, IMS, etc)?

---

Few influenced people involved with the Internet claim that it is a good in and of itself. It is a powerful tool for solving social problems, just as it is a tool for making money, finding lost relatives, receiving medical advice, or, come to that, trading instructions for making bombs.

Esther Dyson, New perspective Quarterly, spring 1997

---