UNITED NATIONS: The world will have nearly three billion internet users by the end of 2014, with two-thirds of them from the developing world, and mobile-cellular subscriptions will reach almost seven billion by the year end, new figures released by the UN said.

The report by the UN's International Telecommunications Union said 44 percent of the world's households will have internet access by end of 2014.

Close to one-third of households in developing countries will be connected to the internet, compared with 78 per cent in developed countries.

The analysis shows that household internet access is approaching saturation levels in developed countries.

Mobile-cellular subscriptions will reach almost 7 billion by end-2014, and 3.6 billion of these will be in the Asia-Pacific region.

The increase is mostly due to growth in the developing world where mobile-cellular subscriptions will account for 78 percent of the world's total.

"The newly released ICT (information and communications technology) figures confirm once again that information and communication technologies continue to be the key drivers of the information society," ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure said.

Brahima Sanou, the director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau, said the new figures are a watershed moment in the world's growing affinity for ICT.