Forrester Research World Online Population Forecast, 2015 To 2020 (Global)

The emergence of smartphones has significantly impacted the Internet access landscape around the world. In developed countries, mobile online penetration is quickly catching up as existing online users take up the mobile Internet, but in developing markets, mobile plays the role of first-access device for the majority of the population. In markets such as India, Indonesia, and Nigeria, “mobile-only” Internet adoption will be the main driver for online access. We forecast that global online penetration will grow from 44% in 2015 to almost 59% by 2020. This forecast estimates the total online population and mobile (mobile phones and/or tablets) online population across five regions and 55 countries. It also breaks out the total online population for each country by age groups, and it estimates the “mobile-only” online population across 22 key markets.