Global Internet Statistics: Sources & References

(notes to the chart "Languages on the Internet")

General: The figures in the first column are not meant to represent the number of people who speak the languages in question. They correspond to the number of people online in each language (i.e. native speakers), in millions. For details of how many are online in each country, click here, and for a general overview of the evolution of these online language zones (1995-2005), click here.

There is some overlap between English and non-English figures, since many Americans access the Web in two languages. Out of the 45 M people living in the U.S. for whom English is not the family language, we estimate that 15 M cannot speak English at all, and the other 30 M can access Web content in their native language and in English (to varying degrees). Overlap in other countries is also taken into account, since some people in these countries access the Internet in two languages.

The column entitled "Total pop." refers to the total numbers of people in each language family (source: Joshua Project), and are the totals for native speakers worldwide. There is overlap, so the figures do not add up nicely: there are large linguistic groups in some countries that speak their own native language at home and the country's language at work.

GDP: "Gross Domestic Product" represents the total economy of a country. Our figures for GDPs and populations were taken from "The Economist" Country Briefings (economist.com/countries/, latest estimated figures). The "GDP per capita" column is reported in thousands of US$.

The source for the column "Net Hosts" is Network Wizards (Jan., 2004).

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Language use in the U.S./Canada: many of the people who access the Internet outside the English language live in the U.S./Canada (that is, when they access it from home; at work they most likely access the Net in English). In 2000, these were the figures for Americans who spoke other languages at home besides English (2000 U.S. Census figures):

According to the Census Bureau's report (slide 7): "Of the 4.1 million Asians, 56% did not speaking English 'very well', and 35% were linguistically isolated." The logical conclusion is that they read newspapers in their own language, most likely they want to access the Internet in their own language too. These linguistic populations can be served better in their own language than in English, since they are bound to access the Internet in their native language (at home). Our estimate is that there are some 27 M Americans who are more likely to access the Internet at home in their own language rather than in English.

Total World Online Population: The methodology used in the above chart is to include people accessing the Internet in two languages twice. Hence the final total is more than the sum of the English and non-English populations. See this explanation of "overlap".

We have kept these statistics since 1996, when non-English countries were first coming online. If you are interested in seeing the past figures and future projections, click here.

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European Languages:

(1) English:

Non-native-English-speaking countries where many people use English to access the Internet:

Adding up these figures yields 295.4 M people online who access the Internet in English.

(2) Catalan: 17% of Spaniards speak Catalan as a native language: 2.9 M Catalan-speakers are online.

(2) Czech: 3.1 M (source: ITU, Dec., 2003). Another 1.1 M Americans who access the Internet in Czech. Together this makes 4.2 M Czech-speakers online.

(3) Dutch: The latest figures from Nielsen NetRatings state that there are 10.8 M people online in Netherlands (Aug., 2004). Among the 3.8 M people online in Belgium three-quarters of them, or 2.9 M, are Flemish (that is, Dutch-speaking). Another 0.26 M Americans who access the Internet in Dutch. Combined Dutch-speaking online populations is 13.5 M.

(5) Finnish: There are 2.7 M people online in Finland, according to ITU (Dec., 2003). Another 100 K Americans who access the Internet in Finnish. This makes 2.8 M Finnish-speakers online.

(6) French: There are 22.4 M people in France online (source: Nielsen/NetRatings, Feb., 2004). French-speaking Canada follows at 2.3 M people online (according to The Daily Statistics (Canada), March, 2001. One must add 1.0 M French-speakers in Switzerland (23% of the 4.3 M Swiss online, according to Nielsen NetRatings marketing research, Feb., 2004). Among the 3.4 M people online in Belgium (see latest survey from GfK and InSites), one-quarter of them, or 0.9 M, are from the French-speaking provinces. Next to Belgium, Luxembourg has 170 K people online (source: ITU, 2003). Another 95 K Americans who access the Internet in French (50% of the French-speaking American population). (We will not count the French-speaking users in Africa, although there are a good 7 to 10 M Africans who speak French there: Internet access is simply not readily available in most African countries.) This gives a total of 33.3 M French-speaking people online worldwide.

(7) German: Nielsen NetRatings reported that there are 74.1 M Germans online (Aug., 2004), to which one must add 3.1 K German-speakers in Switzerland (72% of the 4.3 M Swiss online, according to Nielsen NetRatings marketing research, Feb., 2004) and 3.7 M in Austria (according to the ITU, Dec., 2003). We estimate another 750 K Americans who access the Internet in German from home. Finally, there is 1% of Italy that is German-speaking (thus 90 K German-speakers online in Italy). This gives a total of 55.3 M German-speaking people online worldwide.

(8) Greek: 1.7 M Greeks online, according to the (ITU, 2003). There are another 210 K people online in Cyprus (ITU) and several other important Greek populations in the U.S., Germany, and the U.K. This gives a total of 2.7 M Greeks online worldwide.

(9) Hungarian: There are 2.4 M people in Hungary online, accord to the ITU (2003), and another 60 K Hungarians online in the U.S. This gives a total of 1.6 M Hungarian speakers online worldwide.

(10) Italian: A study by C+I+A indicates that 28.6 M Italians are online (Dec., 2003). We estimate another 520 K Americans who access the Internet in Italian from home, to which one must add 0.2 M Italian-speakers in Switzerland (5% of the 4.3 M Swiss online, according to Nielsen NetRatings marketing research, Feb., 2004), and another 100 K Italians online living in Australia. This gives 30.4 M Italian-speaking people online worldwide.

(11) Polish: 8.9 M people from Poland are online, according to the ITU (Dec., 2003). We estimate another 100 K Polish in Germany and 410 K Americans who access the Internet in Polish from home. That makes a total of 9.5 M Polish-speakers online worldwide.

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(12) Portuguese: There are some 19.3 Brazilians online, according to Nielsen/NetRatings (Aug., 2004). To this must be added another 4.4 M in Portugal (source: ITU, Dec., 2003). We estimate another 172 K Americans who access the Internet in Portuguese. Total estimated Portuguese-language online users: 25.7 M

(13) Romanian: There are 4.0 M Romanians online, according to ITU (Dec., 2002). We estimate another 400 K Americans who access the Internet in Romanian. That makes a total of 4.4 M Romanian-speakers online worldwide.

(14) Russian: There are 6.0 M Russians online, according to ITU (Dec., 2002). Two-thirds of them are in the greater Moscow area. We estimate another 0.4 M Americans who access the Internet in Russian from home. Total estimated Russian online users: 6.4 M.

(15) Scandinavian languages: Nielsen NetRatings reports that there are 6.7 M Swedes online (Aug., 2004). We estimate another 0.5 M Swedish-speakers in Finland (20% of the Finnish population) and 0.4 M Americans who access the Internet in Swedish. That makes a total of _ M Swedish-speakers online worldwide.
ITU estimates that there are 1.6 M Norwegians online (Dec., 2003). We estimate another 0.4 M Americans who access the Internet in Norwegian. That makes a total of 2.8 M Norwegian-speakers online worldwide.
Nielsen NetRatings reports that 2.8 M people online in Denmark (Dec., 2003). ITU reports 0.2 M people online in Iceland (Dec., 2003). We estimate another 0.1 M Americans who access the Internet in Danish. That makes a total of 3.5 M Danish-speakers online worldwide.

(16) Serbo-Croatian: 850 K Serbes are online (Source: ITU, Dec., 2003).

(17) Slovak: ITU reports 1.38 M people online in the Slovak Republic (2003). We estimate another 0.3 M Americans who access the Internet in Slovak. That makes a total of 1.7 M Slovak-speakers online worldwide.

(18) Slovenian: ITU (Dec., 2003) reports 750 K Slovenians online. We estimate another 0.1 M Americans who access the Internet in Slovenian. That makes a total of 0.85 M Slovenian-speakers online worldwide.

(19) Spanish: Research by to Spanish research association Nielsen NetRatings shows over 14.3 M people online in Spain (Aug., 2004). (10% of these would access the Internet in Catalan.) 12.25 M people are online in Mexico (source: ITU, Dec., 2003). Within the U.S., there are 35 M Hispanics, which implies there are 26 M Hispanics online. See (here for details of Latin American countries. Adding all Spanish-speaking online populations yields 72 M Spanish-speaking people online worldwide.

(20) Turkish. There are 5.5 M people online in Turkey (Source: ITU, Dec., 2003), to which should be added another 0.8 M Turks in Germany who are online (2 M Turks live in Germany), and there are small Turkish populations in the U.S. and the U.K. This adds up to 5.8 M Turkish-speakers online.

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Asian Languages:

(21): Arabic. See (here for details of the online Arab world. Just 0.11% of the total Arab population has Internet access, while only 5% of Arab homes have a telephone. There are also 0.4 M native Arab-speakers online in the U.S. Total: 10.5 M.

(22) Chinese. There are 87 M people online in mainland China, according to CCNIC (July, 2004). Hong Kong represents another 4.9 M (Nielsen/NetRatings, Aug., 2004). One must also add 8.8 M in Taiwan (ITU, Dec., 2003) and 2.14 M people in Singapore online (Source: ITU: Dec., 2003). ITU estimates 8.7 M Malaysians online (2003), where Mandarin Chinese is spoken by one-third of the population. There are another 1.5 M Americans who access the Internet in Chinese. This gives a total of 110 M Chinese-speaking people online.

(23) Hebrew: Teleconomy estimates that there are 3.7 M Israelis online (Jan., 2003). We estimate another 0.1 M Americans who access the Internet in Hebrew. That makes a total of 3.8 M Hebrew-speakers online worldwide.

(24) Japanese: There are 66.8 M Internet users in Japan, Nielsen NetRatings: Aug., 2004). As there are estimated to be some 430 K Japanese living in the U.S., we estimate another 280 K Americans who access the Internet in Japanese. That makes a total of _ Japanese speakers online (not counting those living in Europe).

(25) Korean: The number of Korean Internet users is estimated at 30.7 M (according to statistics released by the KRNIC - July, 2004). We estimate another 0.7 M Americans who access the Internet in Korean, for a total of 31.3 M Korean-speakers online worldwide.

(26) Malay: Malay is spoken by two-thirds of the 8.7 M people online in Malaysia (Source: NITC: 2004). Malay is the same language that is spoken in Indonesia, and there are 8.1 M Indonesians online, according to the ITU (2003). Malay is also spoken by 15% of the 2.14 M people in Singapore online (Source: ITU: Dec., 2003). The total is 14.2 M Malay-speakers online worldwide.

(27) Punjabi: Punjabi is spoken by half the population in Pakistan: there are 1.5 M people online in Pakistan (ITU, Dec., 2002), so 750 K people access the Internet in Punjabi.

(28) Thai: There are 7.0 M people in Thailand online (source: ITU, Dec., 2003). We estimate another 0.1 M Americans who access the Internet in Thai, for a total of 4.9 M Thai-speakers online worldwide.

(29) Vietnamese: Half of the 1.12 M Vietnamese living in the U.S. are online (source: U.S. Census 2000), and there are another 5.1 M people in Vietnam online (source: VNNIC, July, 2004), for a total of 5.8 M Vietnamese-speakers online worldwide.

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Chart of Web content, by language
 
English68.4%
Japanese5.9%
German5.8%
Chinese3.9%
French3.0%
Spanish2.4%
Russian1.9%
Italian1.6%
Portuguese1.4%
Korean1.3%
Other4.6%
Total Web pages: 313 B
Source: Vilaweb.com, as quoted by eMarketer

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Global Reach has been tracking non-English online populations since 1995.  You can see a graph of the growth of these online populations by clicking here.

Global Reach: international Website traffic-buildingThis page is edited by Global Reach, a marketing communications consultancy that assists clients attract Website visitors worldwide from all countries that are online. Internet marketing is global (that is, multi-lingual) by nature, and this requires expertise in international marketing. We can expand a single-language site to several languages and actively promote the resulting multi-lingual site within those languages' online communities.

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Last revised on 30 Sept., 2004
URL: Global Reach (global-reach.biz/globstats/refs.php3)