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According to research firm Gartner, the total number of personal computers in use around the world has surpassed one billion. 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 claimed that mature markets such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan accounted for 58 percent of the first billion installed PCs, but would only account for about 30 percent of the next billion.

“There’s a startling difference in per capita PC penetration between mature and emerging markets. Of course, much of this difference reflects the disparity in average living standards between mature and emerging markets. But, rapid economic development across emerging markets is not only narrowing the disparity in average living standards, it's closing the difference in per capita PC penetration between mature and emerging markets,” said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.

By 2014, Gartner forecasts emerging markets will account for about 70 percent of the next billion PCs put into service. “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.

Gartner also expects more than 180 million computers, approximately 16 percent of the existing installed base, will be replaced this year, with some sold to second owners through various channels, some broken up and recycled, but many simply dumped directly into landfill. Commenting on this forecast, Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner said, “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.”

Escherich further added to it saying that, “The disposition of retired PCs has become a high-profile issue for many PC vendors, governments and environmental interest groups. 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.”