The Digital Leap Forward in 2017

March 6, 2018

2017 saw huge increases in Internet, social media and mobile usage in Africa.

Hootsuite, the most widely used social media management platform and We Are Social, a global creative agency, released their seventh annual global digital report at the end of January.

According to the report, more than half of the world’s population is now online, with nearly a quarter of a billion new users coming online for the first time in 2017. More than three billion people around the world use social media each month, and nine in 10 of those users access their social media platforms through mobile devices.

Africa has seen the fastest Internet penetration growth rates, with the number of Internet users increasing by 20 percent across the continent from January 2017 to the end of the year.

The Digital in 2018 report analyzed Internet, social, and mobile adoption across 239 territories.

Digital Growth in Africa

The demand for affordable digital technology in Africa continues to grow, and Internet usage is at its peak.

Africa has seen the fastest Internet penetration growth rates, with the number of Internet users increasing by 20 percent across the continent from January 2017 to the end of the year. The growth in Internet usage is due to the affordability of smartphones. Countries such as Benin, Niger, and Mozambique have doubled their number of Internet users in the last two years.

Despite this, mobile penetration rates remain below 50 percent across Central Africa.

Key findings for Africa

The report reveals serious growth in Internet, social media and mobile usage all over Africa:
• 73 million (20 %) increase in the number of internet users
• 20 million (12 %) increase in the number of active social media users
• 45 million (4 %) increase in the number of people with mobile connections
• 23 million (15 %) increase in the number of active social media users

At the time the report was released the total world population was 7.593 billion, of which:
• 4.021 billion people are internet users
• 3.196 billion are active social media users
• 5.135 billion are unique mobile users
• 2.958 billion are active mobile social users