Internet Connectivity: Africa’s getting connected – but in varying proportion across regions

By Juliet Gillies

In a previous article here, we looked at the state of internet connectivity in Africa as at end 2020. Now we look at the data as at end 2021, which shows how things are changing and
who’s getting connected fastest in Africa.

Internet connectivity
The map shows that 66% of the population in Southern Africa is now connected to the internet, up from 62% in 2020. Northern Africa follows closely, at 63% – up from 56% in 2020; so there was faster growth in this region last year. Eastern Africa grew from 24% in 2020 to 26% in 2021. Western Africa showed no growth last year and remains at 42%, while Central Africa decreased from 26% in 2020 to 24% in 2021. In comparison, year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in internet users worldwide was +4% in 2021.

Of course, there is wide variation between countries, even within a region. Here are some comparison figures:
 Northern Africa: Morocco leads in Africa – 84.3%. Egypt is second – 71.9%.
 Western Africa: Ghana is at 53% and Nigeria is at 51%. But Niger is only at 14.5%.
 Central Africa: CAR is lowest in Africa – 7%. Burundi is at 14.6% and DRC is at 17.6%.
 Eastern Africa: Kenya is at 42%, while Somalia is at 13.7% and Eritrea is at 8%.
 Southern Africa: South Africa is third in Africa – 68.2%.

Social Media
Total social media users worldwide is now 4.62 billion, equivalent to 58.4% of the population. Y-o-Y
growth seen in 2021 was 10.1%. However, there was no growth in SM users in Western Africa (16%), Central Africa (8%) and Eastern Africa (10%). Southern Africa grew from 41% to 45%, while Northern Africa showed the most growth – up from 45% in 2020 to 56% in 2021.

A comparison of internet users and SM users (as a percentage of population) across all regions of the world, provides a good comparison of what’s happening in Africa compared to the rest of the world:
The world average for internet users is 62.5% (internet users). Only Southern Africa and Northern
Africa are above that, with 66% and 63%, respectively. Western Africa (42%), Central Africa (24%)
and Eastern Africa (26%) are all trailing behind, but the last two regions in particular.

The world average for SM users is 58.4%. No regions in Africa have yet reached that level, but
Northern Africa is closest, at 56%. Southern Africa follows, but is some way behind, with 45%. The
remaining three regions are a long way behind: Western Africa – 16%; Central Africa – 8%; Eastern
Africa – 10%.

The latest data on Africa’s population is that it has reached 1.373 billion, according to StatisticTimes. It is the second most populated continent in the world (behind Asia), with some 17.2% of the total world population (7.91 billion). It is projected to grow to 39.4% in 2100 to reach 4 billion people. This means there is still enormous room for growth in both internet connectivity and SM use in Africa, although with variation in the regions and between countries on both metrics.

Source: All data used was extracted from: Hootsuite / WeAreSocial / DataReportal annual report, available here which pulls in data from various sources, including the UN and country-specific government authorities
StatisticTimes (https://statisticstimes.com/demographics/africa-population.php).)