The Covid-19 pandemic has been a black swan, to the economy. However, it has fostered an exponential growth in the way people work with the internet. The internet has become a ready resource for commercial and noncommercial interactions, thereby increasing the number of active Internet users.
The global lockdown has impacted on the global digital population, as more people are becoming prone to using the internet. Statistica has it that about, 4.57 billion people were active internet users in April 2020. This represents 59% of the global population.
China, India, and the United States of America recorded more internet users than the rest of the countries. It is obvious that much can be done via the internet without any physical presence.
In no distant time, the global online penetration rate of 59% will increase, knowing fully well that places like Northern Europe are almost there with a 95% internet penetration rate. Other countries with high internet penetration rates include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Denmark, and South Korea.
Through the African lens, Nigeria isn’t an exception as the rate of internet usage has increased exponentially, thereby increasing the digital population.
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Active Internet Users In Nigeria
National Bureau of Statistics has it that active internet users/subscribers total 136,203,231 as at the end of Q1 2020, representing about 51% of the entire population. Also, taking a retrospect from 2019, Nigeria recorded an increase in the internet penetration rate of 17.1% on year on year basis.
Narrowing down to the Nation’s commercial capital and centre of excellence, Lagos state has the greatest number of internet users in Nigeria. There are slightly over 17 million users, followed by Kano state with 8.3 million users and then Ogun state with 8.03 internet users. On the contrary, the state with the least internet penetration is Bayelsa state where only 985 thousand people were connected to the internet as of Q1 2020.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s telecom giant MTN, has the largest number of subscribers as 57.3 million internet subscribers in Nigeria are with MTN. AIRTEL came close with 36.8 million subscribers, followed by GLO with 33.9 million subscribers.
How Does This Affect Entrepreneurs
Putting your business on the internet is non-negotiable for any forward-thinking entrepreneur. You should take a chunk of the market share in the digital space, especially during this partial lockdown, which has affected physical human interaction.
Let’s create visibility for your brand today and put your business on the world map. Contact us today to make your brand the preferred choice among our audience of entrepreneurs and business leaders.
