Being online is becoming normal for more of the world. Turning that connection into a useful education, a job application or a reliable business service is still a different challenge.
The International Telecommunication Union released its Facts and Figures 2026 assessment on November 3. Its headline estimate: 6.3 billion people, or 76% of humanity, use the internet, while 2 billion remain offline. This AsiaNewsIran report explains what the new numbers measure, and what they cannot tell an individual user.
What changed in the 2026 internet figures?
ITU now puts the 2025 total at 6.1 billion users, equivalent to 74% of the population. That is a revised comparison, not the original estimate published last year. Comparing this year's total with an unrevised older headline would give a misleading picture of the increase.
The new internet-use chapter estimates that 93% of people in high-income countries are online, against 32% in low-income countries. Its regional figures also differ sharply: 80% in Asia-Pacific, 74% in the Arab States and 42% in Africa. These are group estimates, not measurements of every household's connection or evidence of a particular country's current service.
The remaining gap is about place as well as income
ITU's urban–rural chapter estimates that 82% of urban residents use the internet, compared with 63% of rural residents. In low-income countries, the corresponding figures are 41% and 17%.
That distinction matters when a national average looks reassuring. A person in a connected city and a person in a poorly served village can face very different choices. The report finds that the urban–rural divide has narrowed, but it has not disappeared.
A cheaper connection can still be unaffordable
The affordability chapter compares standardized service baskets with gross national income per person. Its global median for data-only mobile broadband fell from 1.3% to 1.2% of that income measure; fixed broadband fell from 2.5% to 2.3%.
But three in ten economies meet neither the mobile nor the fixed broadband affordability target of 2%. A fixed subscription in a low-income economy still costs more than a quarter of average income, according to the report. A global median is therefore not a promise about the price available to a particular family.
Nor is buying a device enough. ITU's digital-skills chapter finds that abilities vary across communication, safety, problem solving, content creation and information literacy. Only 22 reporting countries supplied overall skill levels, limiting how broadly those findings can be applied.
Read the estimates without confusing coverage with experience
ITU's methodology uses survey data, modelling and nowcasting to fill gaps and estimate current-year internet use. Older figures can change as better data arrive. Network coverage measures whether a signal is available, not whether someone subscribes or can use a service well.
For readers in Iran or abroad, that is a useful way to assess connectivity claims: ask about cost, reliability and practical access, rather than treating a single global percentage as a local verdict. The figures here establish no new Iran-specific rate or change in restrictions.
Our earlier guide to AI search and checking original sources examines another part of using an internet connection effectively. Access and the skills to judge an answer remain different questions.
Which most limits your everyday internet use: cost, connection quality or the services you can actually reach? Share a concrete example.