# How big is the Internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-internet/107987 "2002-05-09T00:28:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-internet/107987/1 "2002-05-09T00:28:43Z")
Has anyone tried to estimate the size of the internet? Some things I would like to know: Amount of data available: Number of computers hooked up: The amount of processing power: (if every computer with an internet connection was working on one task, how many Mhz are we talking?) Has anyone tried to estimate this, or should I feed it to Cecil? ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-internet/107987/2 "2002-05-09T01:05:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robertliguori \* > **Has anyone tried to estimate the size of the internet?** Um, measured from which end? Ducks and runs out of the room screeming “I couldn’t help it! It’s not my fault!” ---
**Author:** ![abel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@abel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-internet/107987/3 "2002-05-09T01:07:15Z")
[This](http://webreference.com/internet/statistics.html) might help you out. Also, I don’t know how legit [this](http://www.netsizer.com/) site is, but you can judge for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-internet/107987/4 "2002-05-10T19:00:07Z")
Sooo big, you can’t go over it, sooo low you can’t go under it soooo wide you can’t go around it, you must go through the door. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-internet/107987/5 "2002-05-11T20:56:12Z")
It is bigger than a bread box. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-internet/107987/6 "2002-05-12T07:01:40Z")
According to GOOGLE: 2,073,418,204 web pages big. ---
**Author:** ![mbk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mbk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbk)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-the-internet/107987/7 "2002-05-12T11:52:45Z")
According to [http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how\_many\_online/index.html](http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online/index.html) we’re looking at a worldwide total of 544.2 million people hooked up worldwide - I think this includes people with internet access either at home or at work. Again, according to their figures this breaks down to: 4.15 million in Africa 157.49 million in Asia/Pacific 171.35 million in Europe 4.65 million in Middle East 181.23 million in Canada & USA 25.33 million in Latin America **Warning, many wild assumptions and quite possibly very bad math below:** Taking the world figure of 544.2 million people, and plucking out the air an average megahertz speed of 400mhz (again, assuming that everything hooked up is Intel PC based, which of course it isn’t), and figuring that a 400mhz PC can perform 100 million calculations per second (again assuming 5 cycles per calculation) then we’re looking at a total calculations per second figure for all hooked up people of: 54,420,000,000,000,000 Or, 54 quadrillion, 420 trillion calculations per second.