Globally, 83 per cent of urban dwellers are using the Internet in 2024, compared with less than half of the rural population (48 per cent). Of the 2.6 billion people not using the Internet, 1.8 billion live in rural areas, against 800 million in urban areas.
The urban-rural gap, measured as the ratio of the two percentages, has been stuck at 1.7 over the last four years. Unsurprisingly, the gap is smallest in regions with high Internet use penetration, such as Europe, where the ratio is just 1.1 – compared with 2.5 in Africa. In all regions progress has been modest over the last four years, and in the Asia-Pacific region, the gap has even widened slightly, from 1.6 to 1.7. This stagnation may be attributable at least in part to demographic and socio-economic shifts: as countries have urbanized in recent years, the resulting rural exodus could represent a ‘brain drain’ that further depresses Internet use in the remaining rural population.
The gap between urban and rural areas thus varies significantly among the countries in different income groups. In high-income countries the gap is almost non-existent, with an average ratio of 1.1. In low-income countries, by contrast, it remains a potent force, with just one rural dweller in six (16 percent) using the Internet, barely one-third the figure for urban dwellers. Nevertheless, while in the three other incomes groups the gap has widened marginally, in the low-income group it is gradually narrowing, from 3.1 in 2021 to 2.9 in 2024.