FYIFrance: Reliable Internet statistics, and the French! Global Internet use statistics appear to be available, easy, and reliable, at last. All of us have argued the Internet with spouses, children, siblings, colleagues: yes, it's big; yes, it's getting bigger; no, it doesn't reach everybody; yes, it's international; yes, I think you can get an account in Lyon, or in Lhasa; no, I don't think you have to be rich to use it (do you?). At last, some of the answers: Mark Lottor, ex- of SRI, has put the knowledge of domain - name searching which he demonstrated there into a new, free, extremely useful service. Just look at the following (in what follows, the statistics are Mark's, the comments are mine): Country Host Statistics - July 1994 Country Hosts %ofTotal ChangeFromJan94 US total 2,044,401 63% 38% United Kingdom 155,706 5% 37% Germany 149,193 5% 51% Canada 127,516 4% 48% Australia 127,514 4% 42% Japan 72,409 2% 69% France 71,899 2% 117% Netherlands 59,729 2% 43% Sweden 53,294 2% 40% Finland 49,598 2% ** Switzerland 47,401 1% 24% Norway 38,759 1% 22% Italy 23,616 1% 38% Spain 21,147 1% 79% Austria 20,130 1% 30% South Africa 15,595 <1% 42% New Zealand 14,830 <1% 157% Korea 12,109 <1% 35% Denmark 12,107 <1% 175% Belgium 12,107 <1% 147% Taiwan 10,314 <1% 29% Hong Kong 9,141 <1% 60% Israel 8,464 <1% 28% Poland 7,392 <1% 55% Brazil 5,896 <1% 63% Czech Rep. 5,639 <1% 169% Hungary 5,390 <1% 122% Mexico 5,164 <1% 45% Portugal 4,518 <1% 25% Singapore 4,014 <1% 45% Chile 3,703 <1% 170% Ireland 3,308 <1% 103% Iceland 3,268 <1% 73% Russian Fed. (SU) 3,145 <1% 142% Greece 2,958 <1% 249% Czech&Slovak (CS) 1,869 <1% -36% Malaysia 1,322 <1% 204% Turkey 1,204 <1% 140% Thailand 1,197 <1% 334% Slovakia 868 <1% 70% Croatia 838 <1% 79% Estonia 659 <1% 93% Slovenia 574 <1% -9% Costa Rica 544 <1% 153% Romania 453 <1% 466% Luxembourg 420 <1% 37% Venezuela 399 <1% 6% Ukraine 339 <1% 994% China 325 <1% * Russian Fed. (RU) 322 <1% * India 316 <1% 129% International organizations 315 <1% 34% Kuwait 297 <1% 115% Ecuador 256 <1% 73% Argentina 248 <1% 8167% Latvia 180 <1% 150% Colombia 144 <1% * Uruguay 101 <1% * Bulgaria 79 <1% 276% Puerto Rico 75 <1% * Philippines 65 <1% * Indonesia 54 <1% * Lithuania 53 <1% * Egypt 52 <1% 11% Tunisia 46 <1% 318% Peru 42 <1% * Cyprus 38 <1% 660% Liechtenstein 27 <1% 59% Panama 24 <1% * Nicaragua 23 <1% * Macao 12 <1% * Algeria 7 <1% * Fiji 5 <1% 0% Iran 4 <1% 0% Antarctica 4 <1% * Moldova 2 <1% * Saudi Arabia 1 <1% * 1,180,776 37% * Not connected in Jan 1994, ** Not counted in Jan 1994 What do these figures mean? Are the rich nations getting richer while the poor, as they say, "get children"? Which of them are getting the Internet? Does this mean that information, which "wants to be free", is getting its wish, or is all this merely the latest surge in the widening gulf between "information - haves" and "information - have - nots"?: Correlation of GNP/GDP to Number of Internet Hosts in July 1994 Domain Name Code Internet Hosts GNP Total GNP/Host ------------------------------------------------------------------- Iceland is 3,268 $5,456,000,000 1.67 Australia au 127,514 $290,522,000,000 2.28 Norway no 38,759 $98,079,000,000 2.53 Finland fi 49,598 $129,823,000,000 2.62 U.S. Total var 2,044,716 $5,694,900,000,000 2.79 New Zealand nz 14,830 $46,200,000,000 3.12 Sweden se 53,294 $202,498,000,000 3.80 Netherlands nl 59,729 $249,600,000,000 4.18 Canada ca 127,516 $542,774,000,000 4.26 Czech Republic cz 5,639 $25,600,000,000 4.54 Switzerland ch 47,401 $238,050,000,000 5.02 U.K. uk 155,706 $923,959,000,000 5.93 South Africa za 15,595 $96,000,000,000 6.16 World Median ww 3,225,177 $19,935,936,341,266 6.18 Israel il 8,464 $56,400,000,000 6.66 Denmark dk 12,107 $91,100,000,000 7.52 Hong Kong hk 9,141 $71,303,000,000 7.80 Austria at 20,130 $164,100,000,000 8.15 Chile cl 3,703 $30,500,000,000 8.24 Germany de 149,193 $1,495,679,000,000 10.03 Slovak Republic sk 868 $9,300,000,000 10.71 Singapore sg 4,014 $43,200,000,000 10.76 Costa Rica cr 544 $5,900,000,000 10.85 Hungary hu 5,390 $60,100,000,000 11.15 Portugal pt 4,518 $50,700,000,000 11.22 R.o.W. Median (not US) 1,180,461 $14,241,036,341,266 12.06 Ireland ie 3,308 $41,354,000,000 12.50 Belgium be 12,107 $171,800,000,000 14.19 Taiwan tw 10,314 $150,800,000,000 14.62 France fr 71,899 $1,099,750,000,000 15.30 Luxembourg lu 420 $7,830,000,000 18.64 Poland pl 7,392 $162,700,000,000 22.01 South Korea kr 12,109 $273,000,000,000 22.55 Spain es 21,147 $487,500,000,000 23.05 Liechtenstein li 27 $630,000,000 23.33 Greece gr 2,958 $77,600,000,000 26.23 Kuwait kw 297 $8,750,000,000 29.46 Croatia hr 838 $26,300,000,000 31.38 Mexico mx 5,164 $172,400,000,000 33.38 Malaysia my 1,322 $44,900,000,000 33.96 Slovenia si 574 $20,300,000,000 35.37 Japan jp 72,409 $3,140,948,000,000 43.38 Ecuador ec 256 $11,500,000,000 44.92 Italy it 23,616 $1,090,000,000,000 46.16 Brazil br 5,896 $358,000,000,000 60.72 Nicaragua ni 23 $1,600,000,000 69.57 Turkey tr 1,204 $91,780,000,000 76.23 Thailand th 1,197 $92,000,000,000 76.86 Uruguay uy 101 $9,100,000,000 90.10 Venezuela ve 399 $52,300,000,000 131.08 Romania ro 453 $71,900,000,000 158.72 Cyprus cy 38 $6,100,000,000 160.53 Panama pa 24 $5,000,000,000 208.33 Tunisia tn 46 $10,900,000,000 236.96 Macao mo 12 $3,100,000,000 258.33 Fiji fj 5 $1,300,000,000 260.00 Puerto Rico pr 75 $22,831,000,000 304.41 Colombia co 144 $45,000,000,000 312.50 Argentina ar 248 $101,200,000,000 408.06 Bulgaria bg 79 $37,136,000,000 470.08 Peru pe 42 $25,150,000,000 598.81 Philippines ph 65 $47,000,000,000 723.08 Egypt eg 52 $39,200,000,000 753.85 India in 316 $328,000,000,000 1,037.97 China cn 325 $452,000,000,000 1,390.77 Indonesia id 54 $116,200,000,000 2,151.85 Algeria dz 7 $54,000,000,000 7,714.29 Iran ir 4 $90,000,000,000 22,500.00 Saudi Arabia sa 1 $104,000,000,000 104,000.00 Czechoslovakia cs 1,869 $0 0.00 Soviet Union su 3,145 $0 0.00 Antarctica aq 4 not available -- Estonia ee 659 $52,869,137* 0.08 Latvia lv 180 $65,059,024* 0.36 Ukraine ua 339 $598,131,431* 1.76 Lithuania lt 53 $178,842,876* 3.37 Russia ru 322 $1,409,633,230* 4.38 Moldova md 2 $29,805,568* 14.90 * GDP data for the former USSR is unreliable due to unstable US$/ruble exchange rate. These figures are for 1990, based on 317 rubles/US$. Everyone picked their favorite / least favorite country? I myself find ammunition here for all possible views. Preconceived notions of every stripe might be fed by these statistics. Which nations, for example, are "best informed", as of July, 1994?: Country Hosts %ofTotal ChangeFromJan94 US total 2,044,401 63% 38% United Kingdom 155,706 5% 37% Germany 149,193 5% 51% Canada 127,516 4% 48% Australia 127,514 4% 42% Japan 72,409 2% 69% France 71,899 2% 117% Which nations, on the other hand, might be "best informed" in the near future? (making heroic assumptions, of course, about both statistics and the Internet's role in the "near future's" information)(these same figures per capita of population would be interesting): Country Hosts %ofTotal ChangeFromJan94 Thailand 1,197 <1% 334% Greece 2,958 <1% 249% Malaysia 1,322 <1% 204% Denmark 12,107 <1% 175% Chile 3,703 <1% 170% Czech Rep. 5,639 <1% 169% New Zealand 14,830 <1% 157% Belgium 12,107 <1% 147% Russian Fed. (SU) 3,145 <1% 142% Turkey 1,204 <1% 140% Hungary 5,390 <1% 122% France 71,899 2% 117% Ireland 3,308 <1% 103% Which nations provide information to their wealthiest elites?: Domain Name Code Internet Hosts GNP Total GNP/Host Indonesia id 54 $116,200,000,000 2,151.85 China cn 325 $452,000,000,000 1,390.77 India in 316 $328,000,000,000 1,037.97 Egypt eg 52 $39,200,000,000 753.85 Philippines ph 65 $47,000,000,000 723.08 Peru pe 42 $25,150,000,000 598.81 Which to their poor?: Domain Name Code Internet Hosts GNP Total GNP/Host Iceland is 3,268 $5,456,000,000 1.67 Australia au 127,514 $290,522,000,000 2.28 Norway no 38,759 $98,079,000,000 2.53 Finland fi 49,598 $129,823,000,000 2.62 U.S. Total var 2,044,716 $5,694,900,000,000 2.79 New Zealand nz 14,830 $46,200,000,000 3.12 Sweden se 53,294 $202,498,000,000 3.80 How is Asia doing in online information? How is Europe? Latin America? Africa? What is happening to those "10% per month" Internet growth rates which we used to hear about, at home in the US? Some of us already make our livings speaking and writing about and using online information. All of us, I personally am convinced, will have more and more to do with online information in the very near future. And yet it has been very hard to get information about information. Internet and Minitel statistics have been hard to come by, and have been subject to much question on the rare occasions when they have been available. Anyone online, however (notice the qualifier) now may see Mark Lottor's global Internet statistics for free. Use lynx or mosaic or any World Wide Web browser pointed to address http://www.nw.com , or anonymous ftp to ftp.nw.com . Both historical data and regular updates are available: the latest figures are those shown here, from July. It seems that at last, amid all the talk about National Information Infrastructure and Information Superhighways, more than just a chosen few can get real information, about information, to talk about. A final plug for the French: notice their enormous increase since the beginning of the year -- 117%, which puts them at the head of the nation - state list in 1994 Internet growth. I suspect that much of this might be due to the single RENATER program, which busily is connecting the entire French higher education establishment to the Internet this year. Whether all this connectivity actually will be used -- or will just sit there, the way Apple macintosh giveaways did for so long in California schools -- remains to be seen. Give credit to the French, though: Minitel put them in the networking forefront in general public usage -- RENATER may bootstrap them into networking's forefront on the Internet. The Network Wizards statistics also include detailed comparative figures from RIPE, in case anyone is particularly interested in the European numbers. *** FYI France e - newsletter ISSN 1071 - 5916 * | FYIFrance is a monthly electronic newsletter, published since | 1992 as a small - scale, personal, experiment, in the creation | of large - scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler. Any | material written by me which appears in FYIFrance may be / \ copied and used by anyone for any good purpose, so long as, ----- a) they give me credit and show my e - mail address, and b) // \\ it isn't going to make them money: if it is going to make --------- them money, they must get my permission in advance, and // \\ share some of the money which they get with me. The use of material written by others requires their permission. 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