The Boston Consulting Group has produced a report looking at how the Internet is growing.

  1. By 2016, there will be 3 billion Internet users globally—almost half the world’s population.
  2. The Internet economy will reach $4.2 trillion in the G-20 economies.
  3. If it were a national economy, the Internet economy would rank 5th in the world. (behind only the U.S., China, Japan, and India)
  4. It already amounted to 4.1 percent of GDP, or $2.3 trillion, in 2010
  5. The Internet is contributing up to 8 percent of GDP in some economies, powering growth, and creating jobs.
  6. The scale and pace of change is still accelerating
  7. Developing G-20 countries already have 800 million Internet users, more than all the developed G-20 countries combined.
  8. Social networks reach about 80 percent of users in developed and developing economies alike.
  9. Mobile devices i.e. smartphones and tablets, will account for four out of five broadband connections by 2016.
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