[Satellite TODAY 10-21-10] The number of worldwide Internet users has doubled in the past five years and will surpass 2 billion by the end of this year, according to a report released Oct. 19 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
    According to the ITU, the number of people having access to the Internet at home has increased from 1.4 billion in 2009 to almost 1.6 billion in 2010.
    According to ITU statistics, 162 million of the 226 million new Internet users in 2010 will be from developing countries, where Internet users will continue to grow at a higher rate than developed markets. However, the digital divide will remain significant. The ITU projects that by the end of 2010, 71 percent of the population in developed countries will be online, compared to 21 percent of the population in developing countries. While 65 percent of Internet users in developed countries have access to the Internet at home, only 13.5 percent of people in developing countries have home access.
    There also are regional differences, such as 65 percent of Europeans are on the Internet, compared to only 9.6 percent of Africans.