Global mobile penetration reached 86 percent while fixed telephone line subscriptions remained below 20 percent in 2011 Mobile cellular subscriptions
Pastoralist in a Nigerian village using a mobile phone
Fixed telephone lines
Per 100 people 100
80
60
40
20
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Source: International Telecommunication Union
Infrastructure is typically an enabler, but rarely the sole solution to development challenges. Reducing disease transmission, for example, requires better water and sanitation facilities, but it also requires good hygiene practices such as routine hand washing. Physical isolation is a strong contributor to poverty. People living in remote places have reduced access to health and education services, employment opportunities, and markets. Problems are particularly severe in rural areas that lack good transportation facilities. Transport infrastructure—the roads, bridges, railroads, waterways, ports, and the services they provide—can eliminate growth-constraining bottlenecks and shortages, increase agricultural productivity, improve poor rural farmers’ incomes and nutrition, and expand nonfarm employment. In Vietnam, a World Bank project provided financing for ethnic minority women to undertake road maintenance in rural areas. As a result, 13,470 kilometers of road are being maintained and 1,533 ethnic minority women from four communes were trained as rural transportation managers; many more eagerly await the opportunity. Information and communications technology has vast potential for fostering growth in developing countries by helping to increase productivity in a wide range of economic activities from agriculture to manufacturing and services. Mobile phones keep families and communities in contact and provide market information for farmers and businesspeople. According to the International Telecommunication Union, by the end of 2011 there were almost 6 billion mobile cellular subscriptions in the world, or about 86 per 100 people. The
Internet users in developing countries have tripled since 2005 Developed countries
Developing countries
Individuals using the Internet (millions) 1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Source: International Telecommunication Union
Internet delivers information to schools and hospitals, and computers improve public and private services as well as increase productivity and participation. Over the last five years, developing countries have increased their number of Internet users from 501 million in 2006 to 1.4 billion in 2011. Economy
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