Internet Connection: Algeria ranked 13th in the Arab World

Algeria is sill lagging behind on the rate of Internet connection with a volume of 13.6%, placed 13th among 17 Arab MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries.

• It is far behind the two Maghreb neighbors Morocco and Tunisia, both at the continental and regional levels, according to a ranking by Kapitalis, based on data provided by Internet World Stats, compiled with data released by Nielsen Online Internet, the International Institute of Telecommunications (ITL) and other sources.
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• In contrast, Algeria ranked 4th in terms of numbers of users, with 4.7 million users for a population of nearly 35 million inhabitants.
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• Despite a growth rate of 10% over the past decade, Algeria only represents 4.3% of net users in Africa and 6% in the Arab World, while Tunisia with its 3.6 million internet users out of 10.5 million people is the first country in the Maghreb region with the rate of 34%, followed by Morocco (33%) with 10.442.500 users in a population of 31.6 million inhabitants.
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• According to this ranking by number of users, Algeria is the 8th country, preceded by Nigeria (43.982.200), Egypt (17.06 million), Morocco (10.442.500) and South Africa (5.3 million).
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• Moreover, the same ranking puts Egypt in the first place on top of the list of Arab countries with 17.06 million users in more than 80 million inhabitants. Egypt is leading Arab World with 21.2% an increase of 3.691% in 10 years. The country accounts for 15.4% of all users in Africa, second place behind Nigeria. Saudi Arabia occupies the third position ahead of Algeria and behind Morocco. It has 9.8 million users, with a net connection rate of 38%, half that of the UAE, the kingdom has still much work to do to catch up in this area.
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• “Algerian government has provided significant expenditures to improve its telecommunications infrastructure”, authors of the ranking say. Sudan moves 5th place with 4.2 million users in a population of 42 million inhabitants. The net connection is also very low (10%), lower than the Jordan (14.2%). Despite a growth of 13.900% in 10 years, the country represents only 4.8% of internet users.
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• Syria has, for its part, 3.935.500 users for a population of just over 22 million. The country has also experienced large growth estimated at 13% since 2000, but the rate of net connection is still low with 17.7%.
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• With a population of less than five million inhabitants, the UAE hold an astonishing 7th place with 3.777.900 users with 75.9% of the population connected to the net. The Gulf state approaches the highest ratio of public access to Internet.
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• The other Arab countries that are at the ranking bottom are: Yemen (15th, 420.000 users for a population of 32.5 million and a very low net connection rate 1.8% and a decadal growth of 2.70%. Libya (16th with 353.900 users, a PR of 5.5%, a growth of 3.4% in 10 years. Iraq (17th with 325.000 users for a population of 29.6%, and a very low level of net connection 1.1% and a growth of 2.5% since 2000.