Since the first website debuted 20 years ago, the internet has become a daily reality for nearly a quarter of the world's population, revolutionizing the way we work, socialize, create, and share information. In an attempt to quantify how much the internet is worth, a new report from McKinsey Global Institute focused on the online economies of the G-8 countries, plus those of China, India, South Korea, Sweden, and Brazil. McKinsey slotted internet activities into four categories: Private consumption, private investment, public expenditure, and trade. Here, a by-the-numbers look at the "internet economy":
$8 trillion
Total revenue generated by the internet economy, according to McKinsey
3.4
Percent of the GDP the internet constitutes in large and developed economies
2.2
Percent of the GDP the agriculture sector constitutes in large and developed countries
3.9
Percent of the GDP the transportation sector constitutes in large and developed countires
21
Percent of GDP growth the internet accounted for in the world's largest economies over the last 5 years
246 million
Number of internet users added in India and China from 2007 to 2010, according to the Economic Times
244 million
Total number of internet users in the United States in 2010, according to the Economic Times
485 million
Total number of internet users in China in 2010, making it the world's largest internet user base, according to the Economic Times
2.6
Number of jobs the internet has created for every job it has destroyed
31,353
Number of people employed by Google as of September 2011
13
Number of years Google, the popular search engine, has existed
82
Percent of internet users who start with a search engine when they look for public information
$64 billion
Amount of consumer surplus generated by the internet in the United States in 2009
30
Percent of global internet revenues that come from the United States
Sources: The Atlantic, Economic Times, McKinsey Global Institute
