How many people are using Internet?      

Back in 2009 I did some calculations regarding Internet numbers. And that what were predictions in the middle of 2009.

	2000	2010	2050
World population	6,0 billion	6,8 billion	8,9 billion
Internet Users	360 millions	1,6 billion	5,7 billion
Internet penetration	14%	25%	65%
Internet users growth	183.4 %	362.3 %	410.9 %

2009 Penetration % was growing with speed of 10% per 10 years (+44%)

2050 penetration should reach existing 25% + 40% = 65% of world population

Now on the end of 2010 I tried to calculate same numbers, but what is a big surprise here. I underestimated those numbers. According to recent data from World Stats (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm):

World population 2010 6,8 Bln
Internet Users 2010 1,9Bln
Penetration 2010 28.7 %
Growth 2010 440%

	2000	2010	2020	2050
World population	6,0 billion	6,8 billion	7,5billion	9,3 billion
Internet Users	360 millions	1,9 billion	5 billion	6,9 billion
Internet penetration	14%	29%	35%-75%	80% -100%
Internet users growth	183.4 %	440%

2010 Penetration % was growing with speed of 15% per 10 years (+54%)

2050 penetration should reach existing 25% + 60% = 85% of world population. But…we have to mention here “internet dropouts” and other causes. Meaning we have several scenarios to take on the account. Similarly like with predicting total world population in 2300 some say we can be anything between 5-30 billions depending what path we will take.

Next 20-30 years will be critical, especially for developing areas (Asia and India). Some things are unpredictable, but we can try to see our variants based on historical data. As ironically David Edgerton argues:  The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900, the most radical new technologies are recycled from the past. To look forward, we look backwards.