14 DAY TRIAL // The Internet is already a common necessity in some countries, as essential as electricity and running water, but this isn't the case around the world, with many places still considering Internet access a luxury. That is slowly changing and, in fact, the world's Internet population is expected to grow by more than 45 percent in the next five years, to reach 2.2 billion users in 2013. Most of the growth will come from the Asian market, with China being the main driving force.
“While per capita online spending is likely to remain highest in North America, Western Europe, and the developed markets of Asia throughout the next five years, the shifting online population and growing spending power among Asian consumers means that Asian markets will represent a far greater percentage of the total in 2013 than they do today,” Zia Daniell Wigder, Forrester Research senior analyst, said. “Multinational organizations must understand the dynamics of the shifting global online population to ensure that they are positioned to take advantage of emerging international opportunities.”
The disparities in growth rates between the western world and Asia will lead to a shift in the distribution of Internet users, with the continent representing 43 percent of the world's online population, up from 38 percent in 2008. In sync with the general trend, China is set to surpass the US in Internet users this year and will go on to account for 17 percent of the total number of users, becoming the country with the largest presence online. The US and Canada on the other hand will shrink from a 17 percent share in 2008 to 13 percent by 2013. Europe will share the same trend, going from 26 percent of the world's Internet users to just 22 percent in five years.
However the growing number of users doesn't necessarily translate in Asia becoming the most profitable market as the average income in the countries that will see the biggest growth, like India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and, of course, China, is still very low compared to the developed countries.