BEIRUT: The number of internet users in Lebanon is expected to reach 3.2 million in 2017, according to a study by a Dubai-based market research firm, published in the Lebanon This Week report by Byblos Bank.

According to Madar Research & Development center, 69.2 percent of the Lebanese population will be using the internet by the end of 2017, as opposed to just 45.1 percent in 2012.

If Madar’s prediction proves true, this will mark a significant increase from 2012, when the number of users was around 2 million.

The study’s report predicted that in the same year, Lebanon’s share of the Arab world’s internet users will be 1.6 percent.

This is significant given the fact that Lebanon’s population is estimated to be less than 1 percent of the Arab world.

Between 2012 and 2017, the Compound Annual Growth Rate, in other words the increase in the rate of the internet users, is expected to be 10 percent.

Lebanon, according to the report, will have the 5th highest numbers of internet users in the Arab world in 2017, coming behind Bahrain (87.4 percent), Kuwait (73.7 percent), Morocco (72.4 percent) and the United Arab Emirates (72.2 percent).