France internet usage, 1990 to 2024
France internet usage stood at 88.65% in 2024, up 1.8pp on the previous period.
89 percent of people in France used the internet in 2024, up from 0.1 percent in 1990; the series crossed half the population in 2007.
How it is measured
The figures come from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (indicator IT.NET.USER.ZS), compiled by the International Telecommunication Union. A person counts as an internet user if they used it from any device and any location within the last three months. Where household surveys exist the share comes from them; elsewhere the ITU estimates it from subscription and administrative data, so early and low-income-country readings carry more uncertainty than recent survey-based ones.
What the curve shows
Technology adoption curves are S-shaped, and this one is the canonical example: slow first percent, steep middle as access gets cheap, and a flattening top as the remaining offline population becomes the hardest to reach. France's curve is deep into that saturation phase, where each further point is harder won than the last ten were in the steep years.
What counts as using the internet?
Why does growth flatten at the top?
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