40.5%
Simple mean internet-penetration rate across the 45 included countries.
Internet penetration · SSF · 2024
Internet penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa
40.5% is the simple average internet-use rate across the 45 countries with verified 2024 observations in Sub-Saharan Africa; the median is 36.8%. Seychelles ranks highest at 87.8%, while Burundi ranks lowest at 8.6%.
2024 · 45 COUNTRIES · ITU VIA WDIRegional picture
36.8%
The midpoint reduces the influence of unusually high or low observations.
79.2 pp
The difference between Seychelles and Burundi; 0 countries are at or above 90%.
Highest internet penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa
The five highest verified 2024 country observations in this regional comparison are:
- 1. Seychelles — 87.8%
- 2. South Africa — 78.4%
- 3. Cabo Verde — 74.7%
- 4. Mauritius — 73.3%
- 5. Ghana — 72.2%
2024 internet penetration ranking for Sub-Saharan Africa
Ranks apply only to the 45 countries with an official 2024 observation in this region. Missing countries are not backfilled from another year.
| Regional rank | Country | Internet users | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seychelles | 87.8% | 2024 |
| 2 | South Africa | 78.4% | 2024 |
| 3 | Cabo Verde | 74.7% | 2024 |
| 4 | Mauritius | 73.3% | 2024 |
| 5 | Ghana | 72.2% | 2024 |
| 6 | Gabon | 68.7% | 2024 |
| 7 | Namibia | 64.9% | 2024 |
| 8 | Eswatini | 63.4% | 2024 |
| 9 | Equatorial Guinea | 63.3% | 2024 |
| 10 | Senegal | 60.1% | 2024 |
| 11 | Sao Tome and Principe | 59.1% | 2024 |
| 12 | Botswana | 57.5% | 2024 |
| 13 | Lesotho | 51.8% | 2024 |
| 14 | Gambia, The | 49.5% | 2024 |
| 15 | Congo, Rep. | 47.3% | 2024 |
| 16 | Cameroon | 46.3% | 2024 |
| 17 | Mauritania | 45.8% | 2024 |
| 18 | Zimbabwe | 41.6% | 2024 |
| 19 | Cote d'Ivoire | 41.4% | 2024 |
| 20 | Nigeria | 41.2% | 2024 |
| 21 | Angola | 40.7% | 2024 |
| 22 | Togo | 39.5% | 2024 |
| 23 | Mali | 36.8% | 2024 |
| 24 | Kenya | 35% | 2024 |
| 25 | Benin | 34% | 2024 |
| 26 | Guinea | 33.3% | 2024 |
| 27 | Comoros | 32.5% | 2024 |
| 28 | Liberia | 32.2% | 2024 |
| 29 | Rwanda | 31.7% | 2024 |
| 30 | Tanzania | 31.2% | 2024 |
| 31 | Guinea-Bissau | 29.8% | 2024 |
| 32 | Burkina Faso | 28.3% | 2024 |
| 33 | Somalia, Fed. Rep. | 27.9% | 2024 |
| 34 | Sierra Leone | 25.1% | 2024 |
| 35 | Ethiopia | 21.9% | 2024 |
| 36 | Mozambique | 20.5% | 2024 |
| 37 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | 19.7% | 2024 |
| 38 | Malawi | 19% | 2024 |
| 39 | Madagascar | 18.7% | 2024 |
| 40 | Zambia | 17.1% | 2024 |
| 41 | Niger | 15.6% | 2024 |
| 42 | Central African Republic | 13.8% | 2024 |
| 43 | Chad | 12.6% | 2024 |
| 44 | Uganda | 8.9% | 2024 |
| 45 | Burundi | 8.6% | 2024 |
How to use this comparison
Internet penetration here means the share of the population counted by indicator IT.NET.USER.ZS — Individuals using the Internet (% of population). The regional average is a simple average of the included country percentages, not a population-weighted regional internet-user share.
The regional average and median describe this same-year observation set; they do not explain why countries differ. Open a country profile for its exact observation, national context and machine-readable evidence.
Source and scope
Indicator: IT.NET.USER.ZS — Individuals using the Internet (% of population). Source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), surfaced via World Bank WDI. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
This is a regional view of the verified 2024 snapshot, not a historical revision product or a causal analysis. Region membership comes from the official World Bank country metadata used by the normalized source.