Table I

The Arrival of the Information Age, by Region

	Television stes per 1000 people		Telephone main-lines per 1000 people		Mobile phones per 1000 people		Personal computers per 1000 people		Internet hosts per 1000 people
Region	1998	in percentage of world average	1998	in percentage of world average	1998	in percentage of world average	1998	in percentage of world average	1999	in percentage of world average
Low income (GNP per capita less than US$ 731)	138	56	37	25	8	15	6.2	9	0.03	0.3
Low middle income (GNP per capita between US$ 731 and 3030)	227	92	115	79	15	27	24.9	35	0.59	6
Upper middle income (GNP per capita between US$ 3031 and 9360)	297	120	189	129	75	136	50.3	71	2.47	26
Highincome (GNP per capita more than US$ 9361)	662	268	567	388	265	482	311.2	441	60.67	643
World	247	100	146	100	55	100	70.6	100	9.45	100

Note: The gray areas include the data with density values of less than 50 percent of the world average for this indicator.

Source: Own calculations, World Bank (2000a), World Bank (2000b), World Bank (2000c), International Telecommunication Union (2000).

Table II The World-Wide Distribution of Internet Hosts and Internet Users, January 2001

	Number of Internet Hosts		Number of Internet Users
	January 2001 in thousands	in percent of world total	January 2001 in thousands	in percent of world total
EU	15560	15.3	118576	28.7
UK	3370	3.3	35340	8.5
Germany	3035	3.0	24311	5.9
Italy	1979	1.9	13536	3.3
Netherlands	1429	1.4	7994	1.9
France	1302	1.3	9248	2.2
Sweden	1019	1.0	4904	1.2
Finland	894	0.9	2773	0.7
Spain	716	0.7	5331	1.3
Austria	556	0.5	3631	0.9
Belgium	427	0.4	2999	0.7
Denmark	405	0.4	2661	0.6
Greece	156	0.2	3617	0.9
Portugal	147	0.1	1159	0.3
Ireland	113	0.1	966	0.2
Luxembourg	14	0.01	108	0.03
NAFTA	72692	71.5	179236	43.4
USA	67983	66.9	157609	38.1
Canada	4307	4.2	19914	4.8
Mexico	403	0.4	1713	0.4
Asia	7745	7.6	59843	14.5
Japan	4697	4.6	35197	8.5
Taiwan	1248	1.2	7036	1.7
South Korea	493	0.5	13984	3.4
Hong Kong	590	0.6	3998	1.0
Singapore	229	0.2	2213	0.5
Malaysia	74	0.07	2141	0.5
Oceania	1880	1.9	15078	3.6
Australia	1493	1.5	8962	2.2
New Zealand	379	0.4	1227	0.3
South America	1084	1.1	14121	3.4
Brazil	625	0.6	9890	2.4
Argentina	232	0.2	984	0.2
Chile	83	0.08	842	0.2
Africa	242	0.2	2646	0.6
Others	2443	2.4	23840	5.8
World Total	101647	100.0	413341	100.0

Sources: Own calculations, Telcordia (2001b)

Figure 1

Indicators of Telecommunication Media Use, 1990-2002

a Projection. - b Estimate. Note: The gray area includes the data that are projected or estimated.

Source: Own representation based on International Telecommunication Union (2001).

Figure 2

Figure 2 World-Wide Growth of Internet Hosts, 1994 - January 2001

Notes: For the years 1994 to 1998, annual data are given. For the period January 1998 to January 2001 monthly average data are presented in the figure.

Sources: Own representation, World Bank (2000), Telcordia (2001a).