 In the 1990s, people around the world began to use the internet. Today, two and a half billion out of seven billion people in the world have been connected to the internet, out of which 45% are younger than 25 years old. The internet has become a vital aspect of the modern era, yet the experience of internet connectivity varies highly from person to person. This video examines internet connectivity by highlighting global trends and disparities in internet penetration, speed, cost, and hardware. Let's begin by looking at how internet penetration rates vary across the globe. The internet penetration rate in the United States is 74%, meaning that 74 out of 100 people have accessed the internet in the past year. In contrast, China's penetration rate is just 34%. Other countries in similar stages of economic development also have low penetration rates. However, China has the largest population of internet users in the world, with 406 million people connected, a figure which exceeds the entire population of the United States. Iceland is the country with the highest penetration rate, where more than 95% are connected to the internet. In fact, all of five Scandinavian countries are ranked in the top seven most connected countries in the world. On the other hand, East Timor is one of the least connected countries in the world. A former Indonesian territory that has just completed its 10th year of independence, East Timor's 2,300 internet users represent a penetration rate of 0.21%. Speed is a major feature of connectivity. Internet speed captures how quickly bits of information pass from sender to receiver and impacts the way in which information is experienced. Speeds vary significantly within countries and also vary widely across the world. Chulji lives in South Korea, where he enjoys the fastest internet in the world. At an average of 17.5 megabits per second, South Korea's connectivity speed is almost twice as fast as the second fastest countries. If Chulji were downloading a 4 megabyte PDF on media policy at the national average speed, it would take him 1.8 seconds. Shamim lives in India, where the internet is very slow. With an average speed of 0.9 megabits per second, Shamim has more than a 25% chance of having a connection speed below 0.25 megabits per second. Only 8.3% of people in India have connection speeds above 2 megabits per second. The same 4 megabyte PDF downloaded in India would take 36 seconds to reach Shamim. The cost of connecting to the internet varies highly from country to country. In Japan, for example, people can pay about $15 per month for a blazing fast connection with a speed of 200 megabits per second. An internet connection that's only 100th as fast at 2 megabits per second costs $35 per month in Mexico and $119 a month in Kenya. Let's relate these prices to the average income in these countries. In Japan, the monthly fee for personal internet access is 0.5% of the average monthly income. Mexicans, however, would have to pay 2.4% of their monthly income for such a connection, while Kenyans would spend 83% of their monthly income. So an internet connection in Kenya might run 100 times slower than a connection available in Japan, but would cost Kenyans 175 times more in proportion to income. Service providers trying to bring the internet to unconnected or poorly connected markets have begun to leverage the vast reach of mobile networks, which are now accessible to over 90% of the world's population. Mobile phones today are increasingly equipped to access the internet, and developers in turn are creating tools like voice browsers so that even basic phones will be able to utilize web resources. According to the World Bank, a 10% increase in mobile phone penetration for developing countries yields a nearly 1% increase in annual economic growth. The kind of growth that might be spurred by increased mobile internet penetration could very well surpass that. Mobile connections may make it possible for users to forge relationships with local doctors, propagate successful farming techniques, locate basic educational resources, or find jobs. The ability to connect mobily may be transformative, especially in areas where mobile phone penetration rates far exceed computer penetration rates. For example, Ghana, where there are 70 mobile phones, but only one personal computer for every 100 people, or India, where there are 16 mobile phones but only three computers per 100 people. Consider Kenya, which has 16 mobile phones but only one personal computer per 100 people. Mobile banking in Kenya has been immensely successful, having granted the general population access to safe and reliable banking, and especially benefited disadvantaged groups. Our connectivity governs the way we experience the internet, especially in limiting conditions where connection speed is low, hardware is primitive, or cost is high. Connectivity shapes local, national, and global information economies, which are coupled in turn to socio-economic factors such as wealth, location, education, and gender. What role does connectivity play in your life? If you had little or no internet connectivity, how would your life be different?