A United Nations agency tasked with monitoring worldwide Internet usage claims that almost half of the world's population should be able to access the Internet by the end of 2016. The U.N. agency added that the increase in Internet usage and adoption is due to the current growth of the mobile network as well as competition in the industry which results to lower and more competitive prices.

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The U.N. agency said that while these numbers show a positive outlook, the growth remains concentrated in developed countries while developing countries are still struggling to deliver the Internet into their populace. In developed countries, about 80 percent of the population have access or use the Internet. On the other hand, this statistic drops to 40 percent in developing countries and a staggering 15 percent in less-developed countries, according to NDTV.

The report was submitted by the United Nation's International Telecommunications Union or ITU, Reuters reported. The agency reported that in under-developed countries in Africa, only one in every ten persons has access to the Internet. The union added that the offline population is described as female, elderly, less educated, and lives in rural areas.

On a global scale, 47 percent of the world's population is online. ITU said that a lot of work has to be done to achieve the 60 percent target which the union aims to reach by 2020. The agency reported that 3.9 billion people are still offline, and at least 3.5 billion people are expected to have access to the Internet by the end of the year.

An excerpt of the ITU report reads, "In 2016, people no longer go online, they are online. The spread of 3G and 4G networks across the world had brought the internet to more people."

TagsUN, United Nations, ITU, Internet, international telecommunications union, internet growth, internet use