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For many reading this, it’s hard to imagine life without internet. Some of you may not prefer to stay connected but surely enjoy the free music and video streaming and ease of looking up information on the World Wide Web.
Many governments realise that internet is the future and have taken initiatives to connect each and every member of their country to it.
Some nations, such as Finland, have declared that internet access a legal right for the citizens.
Social Progress Index has compiled data on the internet usage. India lacks behind according to it. Only 12.58 per cent of its population has access to internet.
Here are top 20 countries which have the highest internet penetration.
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United Arab Emirates
Rank: 20
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 85 per cent
While the internet penetration in the country is high, the government has put censorship on pornography, politically sensitive material and Israeli domains. The country has also banned Voice-over-Internet Protocol services such as Skype.
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Switzerland
Rank: 19
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 85.2 per cent
The country has highly developed telecommunications infrastructure. The mobile-cellular subscribership is roughly 125 per 100 persons.
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Faroe Islands
Rank: 18
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 85.34 per cent
The Faroe Islands have been a self-governing country within the Danish Realm since 1948, according to Wikipedia. The expansion of the internet network is regularly developed in the country and today nearly 100 per cent of the population have the possibility of internet access.
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Andorra
Rank: 17
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 86.43 per cent
The country has one of the best fibre optic networks in the world and the government plans to provide 100 Mbps connection to everyone.
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Canada
Rank: 16
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 86.77 per cent
Canadians spend more time on internet compared to any one else in the world. A person spends an average of 45 hours a month on internet. Canada ranks as the 20th country in the world for Internet usage with 28.47 million users as of June 2012, according to Wikipedia.
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Monaco
Rank: 15
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 87 per cent
Being a small country, Monaco has over 35,000 internet users. The internet penetration grew about 3 per cent this year.
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United Kingdom
Rank: 14
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 87.02 per cent
The penetration in the UK has reached so much that 25 per cent of school kids under the age of 10 have email accounts and 16 per cent have laptops, according to a survey.
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Bahrain
Rank: 13
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 88 per cent
Bahrain was among the first few countries in Middle East to offer internet services to its citizens. Until few years back, the country had liberal policies. Lately, Bahrain has started surveillance and filtering.
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Qatar
Rank: 12
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 88.10 per cent
Qatar one of the most connected countries in the Arab region, but internet is heavily censored. Qatar does selective filtering in political and conflict/security areas.
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Liechtenstein
Rank: 11
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 89.41 per cent
Liechtenstein is a microstate in the Europe bordered by Switzerland and Austria. It has an estimated population of 35,000, which occupy an area of mere 160 square kilometres. The country has a well developed telecommunication infrastructure.
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New Zealand
Rank: 10
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 89.51 per cent
The country has about 17,72,000 broadband connections and 99,000 dialups. New Zealand has well developed 3G and 4G networks and fibre to the home is gradually being introduced in the main towns and cities.
The New Zealand Government is funding two broadband expansion initiatives, with the aim of providing fibre to the home of 75 per cent of the population and bringing broadband to 97.8 per cent of the population by 2019, according to Wikipedia.
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Finland
Rank: 9
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 91 per cent
Finland was the first country in the world to declare broadband Internet access a legal right in 2009. According to the laws, the internet providers need to provide connection of minimum 1Mbps speed and this is being increased gradually. The country is aiming to take this figure to 100 Mbps soon.
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Bermuda
Rank: 8
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 91.3 per cent
Bermuda, located close to the US, is a British Overseas Territory. It has a population of over 64,000.
The mobile teledensity of the country is about 125 per 100 persons and it also has a good infrastructure of fibre optic.
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Luxembourg
Rank: 7
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 92 per cent
Luxembourg ranks 2nd in Europe for Internet connectivity with 8 out of 10 households using high-speed connections.
It’s capital, Luxembourg City, has one of the most successful municipal wi-fi network.
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Netherlands
Rank: 6
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 93 per cent
Most households in the country have a connection speeds of 50 Mbps or higher. The country has also not seen cases of spying or censorship.
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Denmark
Rank: 5
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 93 per cent
Though the internet reaches a large population, there have been reported cases of censorship. The country blocks websites that let people share copyrighted material such as movies and music. For example AllOfMp3 and The Pirate Bay is blocked in Denmark.
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Sweden
Rank: 4
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 94 per cent
Sweden ranks 18th and 5th highest in the world in terms of the percentage of its fixed and wireless broadband subscriptions respectively, according to Wikipedia. The country has about 8.7 million users.
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Norway
Rank: 3
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 95 per cent
Norway has one of the best internet penetrations in Europe. Some statistics even claim that 100 per cent of the population has access to internet. The country has no censorship except for child pornography.
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Iceland
Rank: 2
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 96.21 per cent
The internet speed in Iceland matches the penetration and is one of the fastest in Europe. World Economic Forum rates Iceland No. 1 for internet access in schools, accessibility of digital content, and also in the number of secure Internet servers.
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Falkland (Malvinas)
Rank: 1
Percentage of individuals using the Internet: 96.92 per cent
Falkland Islands are an archipelago comprising of about 778 islands. It is part of British Overseas territory. The population of the country was around 2,840 in 2012, according to CIA’s The World Factbook.