30 years of the internet · 1990–2024

The race to half online

Colour = years each country took to climb from 10% to 50% of people online. It wasn't the latecomers who moved fastest — it was the rich. The slowest were middle-income countries that put an elite online early, then stalled for a decade. Press play to watch it happen, milestone by milestone.

Built with internet by @userluke_ · source on GitHub

1990
0 countries ≥50%
Source: Our World in Data / ITU (2025)
Fixed borders · colour = adoption speed
drag to spin the globe
Data
Race
Overlay
Highlight
1990
2024
Years from 10% → 50%
2 yr · fast17 yr · slow
Crossed 10%, still under 50%
No data / never 10%
Share of people online
0%100%
No data yet that year
100%

Online % Mobile /100 Broadband /100