Latest figures (March 2017) from Internet World Stats highlight big differences in internet penetration rates across Africa.
Having access to the internet offers access to education, health information and work opportunities. Some African countries have made great strides but many countries have not achieved the high internet penetration enjoyed by other parts of the world.
The Top 10 Africa countries with the highest internet penetration rates are:
- Kenya (77.8%)
- Mauritius (62.7%)
- Seychelles (57.6%)
- Morocco (57.3%)
- South Africa (51.6%)
- Tunisia (50.5%)
- Nigeria (48.8%)
- Cabo Verde (44.1%)
- Libya (43.7%)
- Zimbabwe (41.1%)
At the other end of the scale several African countries have a lower than 10% rate of internet penetration including Burundi (4.4%); Central African Republic (4.8%); Chad (2.6%); Eritrea (1.3%); Liberia (8.4%); Sierra Leone (4.6%); Tanzania (6.5%).
As at June 2016 there were nearly 147,000,000 Facebook users in Africa.
Sources: ITNewsAfrica.com; Internet World Stats.