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Is Age Just a Number? Big Wins by Older Entrepreneurs

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Is Age Just a Number? Big Wins by Older Entrepreneurs

Is Age Just a Number? Big Wins by Older Entrepreneurs

The entrepreneurial archetype that people think of in 2015 is usually some sort of kid-genius programmer or visionary that strikes it big. Think of Mark Zuckerberg, who created co-founded Facebook in his early 20s and launched a multi-billion dollar empire.

However, through society’s reverence for such enigmatic figures, we’ve forgot about a group that gets less appreciation than they deserve: entrepreneurs who launch big businesses closer to their golden years.

Today’s infographic shows that older entrepreneurs are more likely than their younger counterparts to be successful in certain industries. For example, the average successful founder in the computers, health care, and aerospace industries is about 40 years old. Further, a study by the Founders Institute discovered that businesses are more likely to succeed as their founders close in on that same age.

There are actually more entrepreneurs in higher age brackets than before. Just 14.3% of new entrepreneurs in 1996 were older than 55, and in 2012 that number soared to 23.4%. Today, this older segment actually starts new businesses at a higher rate than folks in their 20s or 30s, and has the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity overall. An older entrepreneur can handle the financial risks, and also tends to have a more stable family life and better experience.

Some successful entrepreneurs who started businesses later in life include Sam Walton (Wal-mart) at age 44, Gordon Bowker (Starbucks) at age 51, Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post) at age 54, and Charles Flint (IBM) at age 61.

Is age just a number? It seems so. Older entrepreneurs are founding more businesses and achieving great things, even in the “Zuckerberg” age.

Original graphic by: SurePayroll

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Visualizing Internet Usage by Global Region

In this infographic, we map out internet usage by global region based on the latest data from the World Bank.

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Map showing internet usage by region.

Visualizing Internet Usage by Global Region

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Digital technologies have become an integral part of our daily lives, transforming communications, business, health, education, and more. Yet, billions of people around the world are still offline, and digital advancement has been uneven.

Here, we map internet usage by region based on data from the World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023.

Digitalization Has Been Uneven

According to the World Bank, between 2018 and 2022, the world gained 1.5 billion new internet users.

In 2020 alone, the share of the global population using the internet increased by 6% (500 million people), marking the highest jump in history. India, in particular, has seen high rates of adoption. For example, in 2018, only 20% of Indians used the internet. By 2022, this percentage had grown to more than 50%.

RegionIndividuals using the internet (% of population)
East Asia & Pacific74
Europe & Central Asia87
Latin America & the Caribbean76
Middle East & North Africa77
North America92
South Asia42
Sub-Saharan Africa34

However, the progress of digitalization has been uneven both within and across countries.

In 2022, one-third of the global population remained offline, with parts of Asia and Africa still experiencing very low rates of internet usage. For instance, more than half of businesses in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Senegal reportedly lack internet connection.

According to the World Bank’s report, when fast internet becomes available, the probability of an individual being employed increases by up to 13%, and total employment per firm increases by up to 22%. Moreover, firm exports nearly quadruple with the availability of fast internet. Across Africa, 3G coverage has been associated with a reduction in extreme poverty, with reductions of 10% seen in Senegal and 4.3% in Nigeria.

Curious to learn more about the internet? Check out this animated chart that shows the most popular web browsers since 1994.

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