NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

India saw the highest number of people going online for the first time during 2012-15 period among all countries, according to a recent report of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). About 178 million people went online during this three-year period, which is much more than that of China, Brazil, Japan and neighboring countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The report titled “Measuring the Evolving Digital Economy” that was released last week indicates that this trend of more people going online will spur purchase of goods and services resulting in greater inclusion and involvement of citizens with the government and economic growth.

“Nearly 90% of the 750 million people that went online for the first time between 2012 and 2015 were from developing economies, with the largest numbers from India (178 million) followed by China (122 million),” the report said. The findings will come as a big boost to the government at a time when it’s pushing for digital literacy and promoting doing things digitally. Government sources said the number of people going online must have gone up in the past two years.

Photo courtesy of Remko van Dokkum.