Digital Trends

Research firm Gartner says it believes today more than one billion computers are in use worldwide - and it'll be two billion by 2014.

Research firm Gartner says it believes the total number of installed PCs worldwide has now surpassed one billion machines, meaning there's roughly one computer in operation for every 6.7 people on the planet. Furthermore, Gartner estimates the annual growth rate of the total PC installed base worldwide will be growing by just under 12 percent a year, so the figure is likely to hit two billion by 2014.

Gartner's definition of a PC includes desktop and notebook systems, but omits devices like PDAs and phones.

"Mature markets such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan currently account for 58 percent of the world's installed PCs," said Gartner research director George Shiffler in a statement, "but these markets only account for 15 percent of the world's population. [..] We expect per capita PC penetration in emerging markets to double by 2013." By 2014, Gartner forecasts emerging markets will account for about 70 percent of the next billion PCs put into service.

Gartner notes that the worldwide installed base of machines is constantly growing as PC users replace their existing machines with newer, more powerful models—but those discarded machines often stay in the installed base (or re-enter the base) through second owners and resales, although many are scrapped, recycled, or simply rolled directly into landfills. Gartner estimates about 16 percent of the installed base of PCs around the world will be replaced this year…and about a fifth of those will be discarded without regard to toxic components they contain.

"The disposition of retired PCs has become a high-profile issue for many PC vendors, governments and environmental interest groups," said Gartner research analyst Meike Escherich, in a release. "It will become an even more pressing issue, especially in emerging markets, as the number of retired PCs grows with the continuing expansion of the PC installed base."