An intranet connects computers within a certain local area, while the internet connects computers worldwide. The document then provides statistics on internet usage in Asia as of June 30, 2012. As of that date, Asia had a population of approximately 3.9 billion people, accounting for 55.9% of the world's population. Within Asia, there were approximately 1.076 billion internet users, representing a 27.5% penetration rate of the population. This accounted for 44.8% of global internet users.