Majority of Swiss surf the internet
Switzerland is among the most wired countries in the world, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
The Geneva-based agency ranked Switzerland sixth in the world in 2006 for high-speed access, behind countries including Bermuda, Denmark and South Korea.
It said 58.3 per cent of Swiss use the internet, dropping the country to 19th, but added that it expected that number to rise.
The worldwide rate of penetration is expected to grow this year – reaching 65 per cent in the West – but the developing world still lags far behind, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
The agency said that while more and more firms in Africa are able to take advantage of the internet, poor access continues to exclude many companies from today’s “information economy”.
It cited Benin and Afghanistan as places where only a handful of people have access to high-speed service.
Unctad will discuss the issue at its meeting in Accra, Ghana in April.
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