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The internet has widened access to information, communication, economic activity and public services, but connection alone does not guarantee those benefits. Its effects depend on who can get online, whether the connection is affordable and useful, and whether people and institutions can turn it into opportunity.
What does the internet’s impact on society depend on?
The internet is enabling infrastructure, not a single social outcome. It can help people find information, communicate, learn, work and use services. Whether those possibilities become real benefits depends on more than whether a network reaches a place.
- Availability: Is a network accessible where people live and work?
- Use: Can people actually get online, rather than merely live within a coverage area?
- Affordability and quality: Can they sustain access to a connection that is good enough for the task?
- Capacity to benefit: Do people have the skills and relevant services, and do institutions make digital access useful and fair?
These dimensions should not be treated as interchangeable. Coverage does not prove adoption, and adoption does not show that people receive equal benefits.
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How many people are online, and who is being left out?
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimated that 6 billion people—74% of the world’s population—used the internet in 2025. That is extensive reach, but it also means a substantial share of the global population remained offline.
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| Measure | Figure | What it tells us |
|---|---|---|
| Internet use worldwide, 2025 | 74% of the population, or 6 billion people | Estimated use, not simply network availability. Source: ITU, 2025. |
| Internet use in high-income countries, 2025 | 94% | Country income-group estimate; it does not describe every person in every country in the group. Source: ITU, 2025. |
| Internet use in low-income countries, 2025 | 23% | Country income-group estimate; it does not describe every person in every country in the group. Source: ITU, 2025. |
| Global mobile broadband network coverage, 2025 | More than 96% of the population | Coverage is not the same as subscription, use or meaningful access. Source: ITU, 2025 foreword. |
The contrast between high- and low-income country estimates shows how a global average can conceal unequal participation. The coverage figure is a different measure: a network may reach an area without everyone there being able to afford service or use it effectively. The ITU’s 2025 materials also identify uneven affordability and service quality as continuing barriers.
On 27 November 2024, ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin said: “Stark gaps in critical connectivity indicators are cutting off the most vulnerable people from online access to information, education and employment opportunities.” The statement underscores that exclusion is not just a technical issue: it can restrict access to resources and opportunities that increasingly have online routes.
When does connectivity translate into economic and public benefits?
Jobs and economic opportunity
Online access can create routes to information, work and economic activity, but the existence of those routes does not ensure that everyone can use them or share in the gains. The World Bank’s World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends found that digital technologies had often boosted growth and expanded opportunities, while broader development benefits had lagged and been distributed unevenly.
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The report argues that technology works alongside what it calls “analog complements”: competitive markets, workforce skills and accountable institutions. Without those conditions, digital adoption alone may not produce broad-based gains. This is a framework from a 2016 synthesis, not a current measurement of every country or internet-based service.
Public services
Digital systems can make service delivery more accessible or efficient, but the benefit depends on how services are designed and governed. A service moving online is not automatically more accessible to someone who lacks reliable, affordable access or the ability to use it. The World Bank’s 2016 report describes improved service delivery among the potential gains of digital technologies, while cautioning that development benefits do not arrive evenly or automatically.
How does the internet affect education, health and social life?
The effects reach beyond the economy. The OECD’s 2019 review maps digital transformation across jobs and earnings, health, education and skills, work-life balance, civic engagement and governance, social connections, personal security, environmental quality and subjective well-being. These are areas affected by digital change, not proof of one uniform effect in each area.
- Education and skills: Digital access can connect people with learning and information. The evidence summarized here does not establish a universal effect on learning outcomes.
- Health: Digital technology intersects with health information and services, but the available sources do not settle its overall effect on health across populations.
- Civic life and governance: The internet is part of how people engage with civic information and institutions; these sources do not establish a single net effect on democracy or civic participation.
- Relationships and well-being: Online tools can shape social connection, but whether networking or intensity of use helps or harms well-being is debated. The OECD calls for more research on some effects, including social networking and mental health.
These distinctions matter because a broad claim such as “the internet improves education” or “social media harms mental health” would go beyond what these sources establish. Effects can differ by population and context, and the cited reviews do not settle their magnitude or direction globally.
What risks and inequalities accompany the benefits?
The World Bank’s 2016 report identifies risks associated with digital development, including weak competition, labor-market polarization, state control or elite capture, cybercrime, privacy violations and online censorship. It raises these as governance concerns; it does not provide current global prevalence rates for them.
Unequal access can compound unequal ability to benefit. When connectivity is costly or poor, or when institutions and services are not designed to include people, the opportunities enabled by the internet may accrue unevenly. Risks also depend on how markets, public institutions and digital systems are governed—not on connectivity alone.
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What can be concluded from a global perspective?
The internet has become a major channel for participation in modern social and economic life, but there is no single global measure that captures its net effect on society. The strongest current picture here is a combination of broad use, unequal participation and conditional benefits: 2025 ITU estimates show that most people were online, while use differed sharply by country income group; the World Bank and OECD analyses show why access must be considered alongside institutions, skills, distribution and the mixed or unsettled effects in particular areas.
Those figures describe 2025 use and coverage, not a 2026 headcount. ITU notes that past estimates can be revised as new data become available, so year-specific estimates should not be merged as if they were one unchanged series.
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