TOP 10 Countries by Share of Population Using the Internet (2025)

Overview: where Internet use is closest to universal

At the top of the table, high-income Gulf economies and mature Northern European digital markets dominate the list. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are shown at the statistical ceiling, while Denmark, Iceland, Kuwait and Qatar are just below it.

Near-universal Internet use does not mean that every digital challenge has been solved. Once adoption reaches the high 90s, the more important questions are connection quality, affordability, cybersecurity, digital public services and whether people can use online tools effectively.

Methodology

The ranking is based on the ITU indicator for individuals using the Internet as a percentage of population. A person is counted if they used the Internet during the preceding three months, regardless of device, network type or place of use.

Country values are taken from the latest available ITU series and cross-checked against the World Bank indicator IT.NET.USER.ZS, which republishes the ITU-derived series. The global context for 2025 comes from ITU Facts and Figures 2025. Because national household and individual-use surveys are not updated on the same schedule, the ranking is presented as a latest available snapshot.

Values are rounded to one decimal place. Economies with the same rounded value share the same rank. Some entries are economies or territories rather than sovereign states because they appear as separate reporting units in the underlying international datasets.

The main limitation is interpretive: Internet use is not the same as high-quality Internet access. The indicator does not measure speed, latency, affordability, data limits, service reliability, online safety or digital skills. At the top of the distribution, differences of a few tenths of a percentage point are usually less important than broader measures of digital quality and inclusion.

Insights from the ranking

The top group is tightly compressed. Once economies reach 98–100%, the ranking becomes less about basic Internet availability and more about survey timing, rounding and the small share of people who remain offline.

Regional concentration is still meaningful. Several Middle Eastern economies sit at or near the ceiling, while Europe remains strongly represented through Nordic countries, small high-income economies and mature broadband markets.

The global average of 74% puts the leading group in perspective. The most connected economies are close to saturation, but the offline population remains large. The remaining gap is not only technological; it is also economic, geographic and educational.

What this means for readers

Internet penetration is useful as a first measure of digital access. A rate above 90% usually means that basic connectivity has become mainstream and that the next questions concern service quality, affordability, digital trust and the depth of online participation.

The indicator is most useful when paired with broadband speed, mobile coverage, prices, rural access, device ownership and digital-skills data. A country can rank high on Internet use while still having expensive service, uneven quality or significant differences between age and income groups.

For business, policy and research, the ranking is a starting point for understanding digital maturity. It should not be treated as a complete measure of digital development.