The internet as the ultimate expression of freedom will have to remain a remote ideal since only 37.9 percent of the world is online today.

And, at its present decelerating growth rate, the internet won't reach four billion people until 2019, said a new study, "State of Connectivity: 2014" by Internet.org, a company affiliated with Facebook.

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As can be expected, most of the unconnected live in developing nations. The report said connectivity is concentrated in developed countries where 78 percent of the population is online, and is sparse in developing countries where only 32 percent is online.

Developing countries are home to 94 percent of the global offline population.

Disturbingly, the rate at which the world is connecting to the internet is slowing down and is estimated to decline for the fourth year in a row. In 2008, the number of people using the internet grew by 12.4 percent. By 2014, the growth rate was down to 6.6 percent.

This year, Internet.org expects three billion people to have Internet access.

But, there are a few bright spots in this gloomy picture. Nearly 80 percent of the world's population can afford the Internet.

Facebook identified the three main barriers to internet access as infrastructure, affordability and relevance.

Infrastructure means people can't access the internet because they don't live within range of sufficient physical infrastructure that allows it.

Affordability means people can't afford the cost of access while relevance means people aren't using the internet because they're not aware of the internet; there's insufficient content available in their primary language, or they can't read or understand content.

The study noted these factors are interdependent, and can only be addressed in concert.