Computers & Internet in the Arab World

The chart shows striking differences in the level of computer and Internet penetration in the Arab world.  

The UAE and Kuwait are by far the most computerized countries, with Lebanon a distant third. The UAE has over 150 computers for every 1000 inhabitants, compared to Kuwait’s 130 and Lebanon’s 60. In contrast, countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Syria have less than 20 computers per 1000 inhabitants. 

There are also great differences in Internet use and availability. The UAE has by far the highest proportion of users, with more than one-third of its population using the Internet. Kuwait and Lebanon are second and third again, with 100 users per thousand in Kuwait and 80 in Lebanon. In some countries the number using the Internet is negligible: Saudi Arabia has less than 20 users per thousand, and there are fewer than 5 users per thousand in Syria.

One unusual feature of the graph is that Internet use does not seem to be directly related to the number of computers. In several countries (the UAE, Lebanon, Jordan and Oman), there are more Internet users per thousand people than computers. However, in other countries, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria, the number of Internet users is lower than the number of computers.

In summary, there are major differences between computer use and Internet use in the Arab world, but the UAE clearly leads the area in both number of computers and number of internet users per capita.