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June 14th 1999 Published By: Nua Limited Volume 4 No. 23
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Computer Economics:Majority of Users Will Be Non-English Speakers

57 percent of Internet users will speak a language other than English by 
2005, according to a report from Computer Economics. 

While the number of English speaking Internet users is expected to rise 
by 60 percent over the next six years, the number of non-English 
speaking users is expected to increase by 150 percent. In the same time, 
Computer Economics estimates that that total number of Internet users 
world-wide will increase from 171 million this year to 345 million in 
2005. 

Currently 54 percent of Internet users are English speaking, according 
to the report. By 2001, they will account for just 51 percent of users, 
falling to 46 percent of users in 2003 and 43 percent of users by 2005. 
In contrast, non-English speaking users currently account for 46 percent 
of users. This will increase to 49 percent by 2001, and to 54 percent in 
2003, reaching 57 percent by 2005. 

The main implications of this are three-fold, according to Micahel 
Erbschloe, VP of Research at Computer Economics. There will be a 
necessary increase in the number of multiple language sites, English 
will not be the default language on an increasing number of sites, or 
will not be offer as an option at all.

<http://www.computereconomics.com/>

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