14 DAY TRIAL // The Oxford Internet Institute has created a map showing what countries would look like if their borders were reshaped by the number of Internet users they have.
This is actually an updated version of its previous World Online map from 2011, with new data compiled from the World Bank organization detailing Internet spread on the Globe at the end of 2013.
To better understand the Oxford Internet Institute map, you must know it was built using hexagon tiles, each tile representing around half of million Internet users.
As you can tell from the map below, the world would look totally different than it is today, but one thing's for sure, China and the USA will still remain powerhouses.
On the other hand, Putin would have a problem bullying neighboring countries, Russia having less Internet users than Brazil and India, countries which are dwarfed by Russia on a real map, even when put together.
“46% of all Internet users live in Asia”
Also, as the Oxford Internet Institute announcement points out, 46% of the world’s Internet users live in Asia, and that's equivalent to putting all the users in Europe, Latin America & Caribbean, North America, and Middle East & North Africa together.
This is no surprise since most countries on Akamai's Internet report of broadband speeds also have lots of Asian states amongst its top-ranked countries.
The map additionally includes a second component, and that's the shade of each state. The darker the color, the higher the adoption rate amongst that country's citizens.
Excluding micro-countries where having a state-wide Internet infrastructure is a two-month work, the places where Internet adoption is higher is where the population has better living conditions.
This means developed countries like the USA, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and most of the EU countries. On the side of the spectrum we find India, Indonesia, and most of the African states.
