Internet usage in India - statistics & facts

India's digital population

However, internet accessibility and use in the country largely varied based on factors like gender and socio-economic divide. It was estimated that in 2020, there were over 300 million internet users in rural India compared to 335 million urban internet users. But it is worth mentioning that the majority of Indian internet users were between 20 and 29 years of age, and a slightly higher proportion of these users were from rural parts. At the same time, there were far more male internet users in the country compared to female users. And this digital gender gap only increased further in the rural hinterlands compared to urban metros.

A majority of India’s digital population accessed the internet via their mobile phones. By 2023, the mobile internet user penetration was expected to grow to over 35 percent, or approximately 500 million users by 2023. An increased availability of cheap data plans along with various government initiatives under the Digital India campaign worked together to make mobile the primary internet access in the country. Notably, 4G networks were the most widely used across urban and rural India in 2019.

Internet users in India compared to the world

One aspect where India shares the characteristics of other global internet users is its passion for social media. The country thrives on social media usage in terms of time spent on smartphones. Furthermore, the share of Indian population that access social networks is expected to jump to over 31 percent in 2023. Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the country. In fact, with about 340 million Facebook users in the country, India had the largest Facebook user base in the world as of 2021.

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