Final answer:
By 2017, roughly 50% of the global population did not have Internet access, with disparities particularly noticeable in rural, low-income, and certain minority communities within the United States.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to a United Nations report, by 2017, approximately 50% of the world's population did not have Internet access. In the context of the United States, census data from the period of 2013 to 2017 revealed that while 78% of U.S. households had Internet access, those in rural and low-income areas had access rates 13% below the national average. The digital divide is also evident in the type of devices used to access the Internet; data shows that a higher percentage of Hispanic Americans and Black Americans rely on smartphones for online access compared with White Americans. Moreover, the Federal Communications Commission indicated that in 2017, 21.3 million Americans lacked high-speed Internet service, and of those people, 2.2 million households had no Internet access at all, suggesting the presence of 'digital deserts'.