On the contrary, the technology gap between developed and developing countries, measured by levels of penetration by personal computers and information-technology and communications services, has narrowed markedly over the course of the past decade, with rapid growth in mobile phone and Internet use. The average level of Internet and mobile-phone penetration in the rich world in 1997 – 4.1 Internet users and 10.7 mobile phones per 100 inhabitants – was reached in developing countries only five years later.