The internet has become essential for humanity, with most of the population spending hours online each day. Yet, over 2.5 billion people worldwide still lack internet access.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, illustrates the countries with the largest unconnected populations in absolute terms, according to We Are Social as of January 2024.

Asia and Africa Have the Largest Unconnected Populations

All 10 countries on the list are located in Africa or Asia.

India has the largest unconnected population, with over 684 million individuals offline, representing 47.6% of its population. China has the second-largest unconnected population, at 336 million, though its percentage of offline individuals is relatively lower, at 23.6%.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia and Uganda have the highest percentages of their populations offline, at 80.6% and 73.0%, respectively. The DRC is right behind them, with about 70% of their population offline.

And not surprisingly, in both Asia and Africa, most unconnected people are living in rural areas, where internet access is limited.

Despite having large unconnected populations, Nigeria and Indonesia are also among the top 10 countries with the highest average time spent on social media by those who are online.

If you enjoyed this graphic, make sure to check out this graphic that shows the average price of 1 gigabyte (GB) of mobile data (in USD) as of January 2024 across 52 countries.