DHAKA:  We live at the most interconnected moment in human history. From India's rural hinterlands to the coastal metropolises of Africa, from American suburbs to East Asia's bustling, hi-tech cities, access to the Internet dictates daily rhythms and opens doors for new opportunities.

This aforementioned map, created by consulting firm McKinsey & Company using data from the World Bank, shows where the roughly 4 billion people around the world who aren’t created to the Internet live. And it might surprise you.

While it often seems like the whole world is connected these days, the reality is that around 60 percent of the world still doesn’t have access to the Internet.

Three quarters of the world’s offline population live in just 20 countries - including India, Russia, Nigeria, Brazil and, surprisingly, the US, where one in five Americans don’t have the Internet.

Fascinatingly, a Minnesota-based US Internet, on December 18, rolled out the fastest Internet service in the world - 10 gigabit per second – for the residents and the small business owners in Minneapolis city.

Source: Washington Post, Science Alert

BDST: 1516 HRS, JAN 01, 2015