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M AY 2 0 11

Measuring the Net’s growth dividend

New McKinsey research finds that the Internet now accounts

for a significant share of global GDP and plays an increasingly

important role in economic growth.

m c k i n s e y g l o b a l i n s t i t u t e

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The Internet is a vast mosaic of economic activity, ranging from millions

of daily online transactions and communications to smartphone downloads of TV

shows. Little is known, however, about how the Net in its entirety contributes to global

growth, productivity, and employment. New McKinsey research examined the Internet

economies of the G8 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United

Kingdom, and the United States), as well as Brazil, China, India, South Korea, and

Sweden. It found that the Internet accounts for a significant and growing portion of

global GDP.

An extensive study by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)—Internet matters:

The Net’s sweeping impact on growth, jobs, and prosperity—includes these findings:

• The Internet accounts for 3.4 percent of overall GDP in the 13 nations studied. More

than half of that impact arises from private consumption, primarily online purchases

and advertising. An additional 29 percent flows from investments by private-sector

companies in servers, software, and communications equipment. The Internet

economy, now larger than that of Spain, surpasses global industry sectors such as

agriculture and energy.

• The Internet is a critical element of economic progress, pushing a significant portion

of economic growth. Both our macroeconomic approach and our statistical approach

show that in the mature countries we studied, the Internet accounted for 10 percent of

GDP over the 15-year period from 1995 to 2009, and its influence is expanding. Over

the last five years of that period, its contribution to GDP growth in these countries

doubled, to 21 percent. If we look at the 13 countries in our scope, the Internet

contributed 7 percent of growth from 1995 to 2009 and 11 percent from 2004 to

2009 (exhibit). In the global Net’s growing ecosystem of suppliers, US companies play

leading roles in key sectors. China and India rank among the fast-growing players in

the Internet’s global supply chain.

• Most of the economic value the Internet creates falls outside of the technology

sector: companies in more traditional industries capture 75 percent of the benefits.

The Internet is also a catalyst for generating jobs. Among 4,800 small and midsize

enterprises surveyed, it created 2.6 of them for each lost to technology-related

efficiencies.