Offline and falling behind: Barriers to Internet adoption

This report examines the barriers that the offline population, defined as those who have not used the Internet (from any device) in the past 12 months, faces in adopting the Internet. As the latest in a series on the Internet (see Internet matters: The Net’s sweeping impact on growth, jobs, and prosperity; Online and upcoming: The Internet’s impact on aspiring countries; Online and upcoming: The Internet’s impact on India; Lions go digital: The Internet’s transformative impact on Africa; China’s e-tail revolution: Online shopping as a catalyst to growth; and China’s digital transformation: The Internet’s impact on productivity and growth), this report builds on our previous work; here, we have taken a global approach to the challenge of expanding the Internet user base while also offering in-depth profiles of six countries grappling with specific barriers. In the future, we plan to examine the mechanisms or solutions that might help overcome the barriers we have identified.