After two decades of explosive growth, several commentators have noted that overall growth in the number of internet users (but not traffic or volume) is slowing, as more markets reach maturity and/or saturation – for example, Facebook (2015) notes that growth in internet users is below 10 per cent for the fourth year in a row.

Problems highlighted in the report, penned by the global Telecommunications Union and UNESCO which set up the commission in 2010, included a lack of coordination and ineffective use of existing resources to make internet access more affordable across the globe. But while access to the Internet is approaching saturation levels in the developed world, the Net is only accessible to 35% of people in developing countries. Women in poorer countries were particularly disadvantaged, the report said.

The report, which came ahead of this week’s summit at UN Headquarters in New York at which world leaders will adopt the 2030 Agenda which contains the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), stressed that access to information and communication technology (ICT), particularly broadband Internet, had the potential to serve as a major accelerator of development.

“Over half the world’s population – some 57%, or more than 4bn people – still do not use the internet regularly or actively”, the report said.

By the end of this year, 3.2bn people will have some form of regular access to the internet, up from 2.9bn in 2014.

ITU said the top ten countries for household Internet penetration are located in Asia or the Middle East. The Republic of Korea has the world’s highest household broadband penetration with 98.5 percent of homes connected.

Iceland has the highest percentage of individuals using the Internet (98.2%), just ahead of near-neighbours [sic] Norway (96.3%) and Denmark (96%). In the developing world, 25 percent fewer women than men had Internet access, a number that rises to 50 percent in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The report’s introduction read, “A large body of evidence has now been amassed that affordable and effective broadband connectivity is a vital enabler of economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection”. Released annually, it is the only report that features country-by-country rankings based on access and affordability for over 160 economies worldwide.