DUSHANBE, July 29, 2016, Asia-Plus -- InternetLiveStats has ranked Tajikistan 114th among 200 nations in terms of the number of Internet users.

More than 1.6 million Internet users have been reported in Tajikistan this year, which is 18.7 percent of the country’s population.

Compared to 2015, the number of Internet users in Tajikistan has reportedly increased by 4.3 percent or 67,200 people.

Meanwhile, China tops the list with more than 721 million Internet users.  China is followed by India (462 million Internet users) and the United States (nearly 287 million Internet users).

United States, Germany, France, U.K., and Canada have the highest penetration: over 80% of population in these countries has an internet connection.  

As far as the CIS area is concerned, Russia stands in the first place among the CIS nations in terms of the number of Internet users – more than 102 million people in Russia have an Internet connection.  Russia is followed by Ukraine, which is ranked 34th, Uzbekistan (37th), Kazakhstan (43rd), and Belarus (61st).  Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan are ranked 106th and 134th respectively.

InternetLiveStats says around 40% of the world population has an internet connection today.  In 1995, it was less than 1%.  The number of internet users has increased tenfold from 1999 to 2013.  The first billion was reached in 2005, the second billion was reached in 2010, and the third billion was reached in 2014.

InternetLiveStats notes that Internet user is an individual who has access to the Internet at home; this indicator does not record use, or frequency of use, but only access.