PC Use Hits 1 Billion Worldwide

The figures come from from Gartner researchers, who calculate that PC growth is increasing at slightly less than 12 percent annually.

Gartner estimates that growth is primarily in mature markets, such as the U.S., Western Europe and Japan, which make up 58 percent of the world's installed PCs. However, these markets only account for 15 percent of the world's population, according to George Shiffler, research director at Gartner. Shiffler projects that emerging markets will take a larger share of the world's installed base as the rapidly rising PC penetration there continue to drive robust double-digit PC growth.

"Emerging market governments are also increasingly committed to reducing the digital divide by promoting PC use among their citizens through a variety of means, including providing PCs directly to the less affluent," said Luis Anavitarte, research vice president at Gartner, in a statement. "Whereas mature markets accounted for fewer than 60 percent of the first billion installed PCs, we expect emerging markets to account for approximately 70 percent of the next billion installed PCs."

PC churn is one factor for rising global PC installed base figures, as PC users upgrade to new machines. Some older PCs migrate to second owners, some are broken up and recycled, and others end up in garbage heaps.

"We forecast just over 180 million PCs—approximately 16 percent of the existing installed base—-will be replaced this year," Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner, said in a statement. "We estimate a fifth of these, or some 35 million PCs, will be dumped into landfill with little or no regard for their toxic content. The disposition of retired PCs has become a high-profile issue for many PC vendors, governments and environmental interest groups."