The Internet's Language Barrier

everyone the power to share information. Why is it so important for people to connect? Connectedness puts information at people’s fingertips. Connectedness equals participation in the knowledge economy, which is the source of future growth, jobs, and productivity. Connectedness creates opportunity. There are approximately seven billion people on the planet today. Only around one-third, an estimated 2.7 billion people, are connected to the Internet. About half of those, 1.3 billion people, are on Facebook, with one billion accessing the site from a mobile device. In emerging markets, where connectivity is currently lowest, most people use only mobile devices. In developed countries, average Internet connectivity is around 74 percent of the total population, compared to around 13 percent in India, 20 percent in Africa and 21 percent in South East Asia. There are many barriers to connectivity in different parts of the world. For the majority of people not yet connected, the main obstacles are social and economic. The cost of data and devices is too high, and demand for Internet services may be low among people who have yet to understand their value. For a smaller population, mostly in remote regions, it is the absence of basic Internet infrastructure that holds back the spread of the Internet – cell towers have yet to be constructed and communities don’t yet have electricity. These are enormous problems, and they rightly deserve a great deal of attention from those working to close the digital divide. But another important challenge that is often overlooked is just as critical to getting more people to use the Internet and participate in the global knowledge economy. It’s the language barrier.