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World / Retrospective report

Connectivity counts differ

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AI-assisted summary of linked public sources · 1 min read
Event / announcement date
2025-11-17
ITU tower and flags in Geneva.
File: ITU headquarters, Geneva, December 2009. · “ITU Building” — © IUT / V. Martin (item: ITU / V. Martin), CC BY 2.0. · Unchanged provider file. · Image source ↗ · cc-by-2.0 ↗

ITU’s November 17, 2025 estimates put six billion people online and 2.2 billion offline. Its revised 2024 baseline means changes from previously published totals are not all newly connected people. [1]

Household-survey gaps required modelling and 2025 nowcasts. Surveys rarely cover under-fives, limiting estimates for the entire population. [2]

Earlier UN targets set separate affordability tests: entry-level broadband below 2% of monthly gross national income per person and no more than 2% of the bottom 40%’s average income. These 2030 goals did not establish 2025 affordability. [3]

The source

  1. ITU: Connectivity estimates ↗
    Source date 2025-11-17 · reviewed October 30, 2026
  2. ITU: Estimation methods ↗
    Undated reference · reviewed October 30, 2026 · No publication date is given on this methodology page.
  3. ITU: Affordability targets ↗
    Source date 2022-04-19 · reviewed October 30, 2026
Sources reviewed October 30, 2026. External pages may change.

About this item: Retrospective report. No first-hand reporting or independent testing is claimed. Corrections policy.

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