With the internet now playing such a significant part in most of our everyday lives, it’s hard to imagine living without it, and what you would do if you no longer had web connectivity.

Yet, for billions of people around the world, that remains a reality, with internet access still limited in many regions. And yes, that’s billions with a “b”, with estimates suggesting that 2.5 billion people still don’t have consistent web access, which causes many disadvantages, and exacerbates regional divides.

And that’s only going to become more significant in future, especially if generative AI becomes the transformative force that many predict. That’ll mean that those who have web access will have significant advantages over those that don’t, seeing the rich get richer, and poorer nations become worse off over time.

This visualization from Visual Capitalist provides an overview of the state of web connection around the world, and which regions have the lowest levels of connectivity.