According to Internet World Statistics, as of June 30, 2006, Globally, there were 1,043,104,886 online.

According to technorati, as of August 29th, 2006, there were 52.5 million blogs.   Technorati does not including My Space pages and also attempts to exclude splogs.

52.5 / 1043 = 5.033%

Assuming that most people only have one blog, this means that 5% of the world’s online population now blogs.

However, also according to Technorati, the number of blogs is doubling every six months.   Internet World Statistics says that the number of users grew by 189% between 2000 and 2005.   That implies a 7% growth rate every six months. 

If you put those trends together, by June 2008, more than 50% of Internet users will have a blog.

These numbers undoubtedly represent a high end prediction.

It is more likely that the growth rate of blogging will slow down before 2008.

However, entrepreneurs are continuing to develop new reasons why individuals would want to have a web address, even if they do not use that URL to produce a traditional blog.

For example Identity 2.0 efforts, such as SXIP, rely upon end users being able to control and present their identity certificate from a unique URL.

This combined with trends like photocasting, where family members and friends share photos through a unique URL are likely to continue the demand.

Finally, professional requirements will encourage more and more people to set up a blog. Blogs are a proven way of building a social network, of fostering your professional reputation, and of demonstrating your capabilities. How far are we from the day when most hiring managers for senior positions include a check of your blog as part of their due diligence process?