Internet access has become a vital tool in the past 20 years. Lack of ready access to high speed internet may limit economic and educational opportunities as well as political expression especially in the developing world. Indeed internet access may become one of many indicators showing a widening gap between rich and poor.

The scatter plot below shows the percentage of population with access to the internet contrasted with mean years of schooling. Mean years of schooling is an indicator of investment in education and a key comonent of the UN's human development index (HDI). The colors of the plot points represent different regions including: Asia, Europe, Africa, Pacific, Middle East, North America and South America.