The internet penetration rate in India rose over 55 percent in 2025, from about 14 percent in 2014. Although these figures seem relatively low, it meant that more than half of the population of 1.4 billion people had internet access that year. This also ranked the country second in the world in terms of active internet users. Internet availability and accessibility By 2021, the number of internet connections across the country tripled with urban areas accounting for a higher density of connections than rural regions. Despite incredibly low internet prices, internet usage in India has yet to reach its full potential. Lack of awareness and a tangible gender gap lie at the heart of the matter, with affordable mobile handsets and mobile internet connections presenting only a partial solution. Reliance Jio was the popular choice among Indian internet subscribers, offering them wider coverage at cheap rates. Digital living Home to one of the largest bases of netizens in the world, India is abuzz with internet activities being carried out every moment of every day. From information and research to shopping and entertainment to living in smart homes, Indians have welcomed digital living with open arms. Among these, social media usage was one of the most common reasons for accessing the internet.

As of February 2025, India was the country with the largest offline population worldwide. The South Asian country had over 651 million people without internet connection. China ranked second, with around 311.9 million people not connected to the internet. Despite these large shares of the disconnected population in these countries, China and India ranked first and second, respectively, as countries with the highest number of internet users worldwide. Internet access in Africa In 2023, Africa lagged behind other global regions regarding internet penetration rate, as only 37 percent of the continent’s population accessed the web. In contrast, around 91 percent of Europe’s population were internet users. This is heavily influenced by the infrastructure development in the region. However, some improvements are forecasted, as by 2028, the internet penetration rate in Africa will be at an estimated 48.15 percent. Global internet access challenges: disruptions and restrictions Government internet shutdowns around the world are another challenge for internet access. Between 2015 and the first half of 2023, 172 local internet connection disruptions occurred due to protests globally. Moreover, according to a 2023report on internet freedom, almost four out of ten global internet users were deprived of essential freedoms on online platforms. In 2023, 76 new restrictions on internet usage were implemented worldwide. Asia led in imposing these restrictions, accounting for approximately 55 cases across various countries in the region.

While men constituted more than half of the active internet users in India, female users accounted for 47 percent in 2024. Over the years, the gender gap among Indian internet users appears to have been closing. The overall number of internet users in the country was forecasted to reach 900 million, with most of them residing in rural India.

As of the third quarter of 2024, internet users in India engaged in various online activities to access information. Among them, over 81 percent used search engines, making it the leading method of accessing online information. This was followed by conducting product and brand research on social network sites.

The number of internet users in India was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total ***** million users (+***** percent). After the fifteenth consecutive increasing year, the number of users is estimated to reach *** billion users and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the number of internet users of was continuously increasing over the past years.Depicted is the estimated number of individuals in the country or region at hand, that use the internet. As the datasource clarifies, connection quality and usage frequency are distinct aspects, not taken into account here.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to *** countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the number of internet users in countries like Nepal and Pakistan.

Graph and download economic data for Internet users for India (ITNETUSERP2IND) from 1990 to 2022 about internet, India, and persons.

India: Internet users, percent of population: The latest value from 2022 is 55.9 percent, an increase from 43.4 percent in 2020. In comparison, the world average is 70.88 percent, based on data from 178 countries. Historically, the average for India from 1990 to 2022 is 8.99 percent. The minimum value, 0 percent, was reached in 1990 while the maximum of 55.9 percent was recorded in 2022.

Individuals using the Internet (% of population) in India was reported at 55.9 % in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India - Individuals using the Internet (% of population) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

High Frequency Indicator: The dataset contains year-, quarter- and state-wise compiled data from the year 2014 to till date on the total number of broadband and narrowband internet subscribers in the rural and urban areas of India

Over 34 percent of the Indian population accessed the internet in 2017. This was a drastic increase from 7.5 percent in 2010. Despite the huge, yet-to-be utilized potential, India is already the second-largest online market worldwide.

In 2020, 53 percent of India's total population accessed the internet from their mobile phones. This was expected to grow to 96 percent by 2040, indicating a significant rise in the country's mobile internet user base.

The population share with mobile internet access in India was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 25 percentage points. After the fifteenth consecutive increasing year, the mobile internet penetration is estimated to reach 73.62 percent and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the population share with mobile internet access of was continuously increasing over the past years.The penetration rate refers to the share of the total population having access to the internet via a mobile broadband connection.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the population share with mobile internet access in countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Forecast: Total Internet Users in India 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

As per the results of a survey across India in 2019, India's internet penetration stood at around ** percent. The national capital territory of Delhi had the highest internet penetration levels that year at ** percent, followed by Kerala at ** percent. Odisha had the lowest penetration level during the same period.

Forecast: Total Internet Users in India 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

India’s digital journey is one of exuberance. The country had the world’s second-largest internet population at over 1.2 billion users in 2023. Of these, 1.05 billion users accessed the internet via their mobile phones. Estimates suggest that this figure would reach over 1.2 billion by 2050.

The path towards digital India

Mobile internet has been such a positive development in the country’s digital progress, that in 2019, over 73 percent of India’s total web traffic coming from mobile phones. But how did this come to be? Two main factors point to the sudden spike in mobile internet penetration in the south Asian country. Firstly, the increased availability of cheap smartphones since 2010 had created a fertile ground for digital adoption and literacy. Along with this, the Indian government understood the vitality of investments in its telecommunications sector and further opened the market with new telecom spectrum licenses.

Reliance Jio - the market disruptor

With this backdrop, in September 2016, Reliance Jio entered the Indian market, promising customers with cheap 4G, high speed data plans along with free voice calling. Within six months of its launch, the company had attracted over a 100 million customers and by the end of 2019, it had the highest wireless telecom subscriber base in India. Jio’s competitive pricing drove down the data pricing among other established telecom operators, leading to a cumulative growth in mobile internet accessibility as well as affordability.

India Internet Usage: Search Engine Market Share: Tablet: PrivacyWall data was reported at 0.000 % in 13 Feb 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.020 % for 12 Feb 2025. India Internet Usage: Search Engine Market Share: Tablet: PrivacyWall data is updated daily, averaging 0.005 % from Oct 2024 (Median) to 13 Feb 2025, with 22 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.030 % in 10 Feb 2025 and a record low of 0.000 % in 13 Feb 2025. India Internet Usage: Search Engine Market Share: Tablet: PrivacyWall data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statcounter Global Stats. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.SC.IU: Internet Usage: Search Engine Market Share.

As of February 2025, around 322 million people in the United States accessed the internet, making it one of the largest online markets worldwide. The country currently ranks third after China and India by the online audience size. Overview of internet usage in the United States The digital population in the United States has constantly increased in recent years. Among the most common reasons is the growing accessibility of broadband internet. A big part of the country's digital audience accesses the web via mobile phones. In 2024, the country saw an estimated 97.1 percent mobile internet user penetration. According to a 2024 survey, over 51 percent of U.S. women and 43 percent of men said it is important to them to have mobile internet access anywhere, at any time. Another 41 percent of respondents could not imagine their everyday life without the internet. Google and YouTube are the most visited websites in the country, while music, food, and drinks were the most discussed online topics. Internet usage demographics in the United States While some users can no longer imagine their life without the internet, others do not use it at all. According to 2021 data, 25 percent of U.S. adults 65 and older reported not using the internet. Despite this, online usage was strong across other age groups, especially young adults aged 18 to 49. This age group also reported the highest percentage of smartphone usage in the country as of 2023. Due to a persistent lack of connectivity in rural areas, more online users were based in urban areas of the U.S. than in the countryside.

India’s digital adoption has been driven by the rural heartland of the country, registering a high growth of internet users compared to their urban counterparts. In 2024, there were *** million internet users in rural India, accounting for more than half the country's netizens. Bridging the internet gap This jump in rural internet penetration was largely owing to the increased availability of bandwidth, cheap data plans, and various government initiatives under the Digital India campaign. As of 2022, over *** thousand village and small-town councils, called Gram Panchayats, were equipped with internet access across India. Of these, Uttar Pradesh had the maximum connectivity in its rural areas with ** thousand internet-equipped gram panchayats. These factors also led to an overall spike in the internet penetration rates across the country. From just over a ** percent internet penetration rate in 2015, India reached almost ** percent in 2022. A perspective on the numbers Although these figures seem relatively low, it indicated that about *** million would be internet users by January 2023. This ranked India second in terms of active internet users across the world that same year.

As of February 2025, China ranked first with around 1.11 billion internet users, followed by India with 624 million internet users. China and India were not only leading within the Asia Pacific region, but had the highest number of internet users worldwide. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region had the largest number of internet users globally, however, internet penetration in Asia was still below the global average. Internet usage patterns in APAC The Philippines leads the region in average daily time spent using the internet in the Asia Pacific region, at around nine hours online each day. In emerging markets like Thailand, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines, over 60 percent of online time occurs on mobile devices. In contrast, users in more developed markets such as South Korea, Singapore, and Australia tend to have a more balanced distribution of internet time between mobile and desktop. In Japan, internet users reported spending around 57 percent of online time on computers, compared to around 43 percent on mobile devices. This contrast highlights the diversity of internet usage behaviors across the Asia-Pacific region, shaped by varying levels of digital infrastructure, economic development, and consumer preferences. Mobile internet development in APAC Mobile internet has experienced significant growth worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific region throughout recent years. Since 2015, the number of mobile internet subscribers in APAC has doubled. At the same time, mobile internet download speeds in APAC have improved markedly, with countries like South Korea, China, and Singapore leading the region in performance. As a result, mobile internet user penetration across APAC was forecasted to increase steadily through 2030.