The graph below illustrates the proportion of inhabitants who had Internet connection in a European country in the 5-year period, starting from 1999.
Looking from overall perspective, it is readily apparent that people in cities, who can use the internet, took the advantage over those who lives in rural during the whole period. However, gap between them was significantly diminished when it comes to the end of the given period.
In 1999, few households in the region were able to use Internet. Only 15 percent of homes in urban/suburban areas had access to the Internet, while in rural homes this number was less than 5 percent.The following year, Internet access in urban and suburban houses had doubled, and reached 30 percent. During the same time situation in rural houses slightly improved, and almost 10 percent of them had Internet connection.
Over the few next years, Internet access continued to increase in both in urban/suburban and rural households. Then, between 2002 and 2004, percentage of households remained more or less steady at almost 50 percent in cities. Meanwhile, the percentage of rural households with Internet access continued to grow steadily, and reached 35 percent by 2004.
While the proportion of households, who were able to use Internet connection, increased in both urban and suburban as well as rural areas during the years shown in the graph, the percentage in urban and suburban areas remained always higher than percentage in rural ones.