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Personal Computers

Map No. 337

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Personal computers are computers that are designed to be used by a single individual. This includes lap top and desk top computers, work and home computers. In 2002 there were almost 600 million such computers in use worldwide; that was 1 computer for every 10 people.

The most computers are found in the United States, Japan, China and Germany - these territories together are home to more than half of all computers in the world.

The 12 territories with the most computers contain 75% of all computers. This leaves 25% of computers being unevenly distributed amongst and within the remaining 188 territories.

"I enjoy using the computer as it’s much easier to use than the Braille machine ..." Winnie Kajeni, 2006

Territory size shows the proportion of personal computers worldwide that are found there.

• Open PDF poster, designed for printing. You need Acrobat Reader.
• View labelled territory map or population map for comparison
• Data files: Excel (large with map), Excel (small no map), Opendoc format (see notes)
• Technical notes for this data.
• High Resolution image (see copyright conditions)
• All of the data we use is estimated; see data page