G oa l 8: D e v elo p a g lo ba l pa r tn er s h i p f o r d e v elo pm en t | 63
these, 36 countries have reached the “decision point” stage in the process and have had future debt payments reduced by $59 billion (in end-2010 net present value terms); and 32 that have reached their “completion point” have received additional assistance of $33 billion (in end2010 net present value terms) under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.
their 2008 level. Debt-service burdens also declined in Western Asia, Northern Africa and the small island developing States, but as export earnings also continued to decline in 2010, the ratio continued to increase. Forty countries are eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Of
Target In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications
The extraordinary rise in mobile cellular subscriptions continues in the developing world Number of fixed-telephone and mobile-cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, 1995-2011 120
Mobile-cellular subscriptions, developed regions Fixed-telephone subscriptions, developed regions Mobile-cellular subscriptions, developing regions Fixed-telephone subscriptions, developing regions
100
80
60
40
20
0
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011*
* Data for 2011 are preliminary estimates.
By the end of 2011, the number of mobile cellular subscriptions had grown to an estimated six billion, including 1.2 billion active mobile broadband subscriptions. This increase brings mobile cellular penetration levels to 87 per cent worldwide and 79 per cent in the developing regions. At the same time, more than one third of the world’s population is using the Internet, increasingly through high-speed broadband Internet access. Key factors driving consumer demand, and allowing more and more people to join the information society, are technological progress, user-oriented services, information
and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure investments and falling ICT service prices. Mobile cellular subscriptions continue to rise yearly at double-digit growth rates in the developing world. In 2011, 75 per cent of the worldwide subscriptions were in the developing regions, up from 59 per cent in 2006. Mobile cellular penetration in sub-Saharan Africa now exceeds 50 per cent, compared to a fixed telephone penetration of only 1 per cent of the population. By the end of 2011, moreover, over 160 countries in the world had launched 3G mobile broadband services and 45 per cent of the population worldwide was covered by a high-speed mobile broadband signal.