The presented bar chart illustrates the percentage of Europeans who had Internet access during the time period from 1999 to 2004. The graph gives information about two categories of residential areas: urban/suburban and rural.
Overall, both types of households had an increasing tendency, starting from less than one fifth of the total and culminating in, on average, almost half of 100%. Noticeably, urban and suburban territories throughout the years have always had more access to the Internet.
The growth for municipal areas began in 1999 at approximately 15%, while the countryside showed only 2%. From 1999 to 2000 rural households endured a drastic uplift to 30% of Internet users, which was 2 times higher than the previous year. The figures remained to grow intensely during the period, showing 40% in 2001 and 50% in 2002 (the gap is 10% in total). In contrast, the rural areas had a gradual and slow rise, having 10% in 2001 and 15% in 2002 (the gap is only 5%). By 2004 rural households had 55%, which value is bigger than a half and almost 4 times higher than the percent in 1999.. The final figure of rural Internet users was 35%.