The Hour of Code: An International Movement

Did you know that over half of all Hour of Code events in 2016 occurred outside the United States?

The Hour of Code, a global movement to broaden participation in computer science by demystifying “code” through a one-hour introduction, has reached tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. At least 10% of all students in the entire world have done an Hour of Code.

How is this possible? Code.org works with an amazing group of international partners—nonprofits, ministries of education, and thousands of teachers—every year who organize the Hour of Code in their respective countries.

Last year, over half of all Hour of Code events from December 5–11, 2016 occurred outside the United States. Check out the breakdown:

Over 180 countries signed up for over 164,000 events on hourofcode.com to celebrate Computer Science Education Week 2016.

We want to send a huge thank you to our international partners, teachers, and organizers who helped reach millions of students worldwide with the Hour of Code.

Italy in particular deserves a huge shout-out: nearly every school in the country did an Hour of Code thanks to our partner CINI!

And also congratulations to Russia for reaching 9.9 million participants across 35,000 schools!

Some other interesting international stats:

• Italy, Malta, the US Virgin Islands, the Faroe Islands, and the Cook Islands had the highest number of events per capita. It’s awesome to see these countries’ populations participating in such big numbers!

• Island countries had some of the largest growth rates in event sign-ups this year, with Guadeloupe, the Isle of Man, Curaçao, and Malta experiencing the most growth. The African country Botswana rounds out the top 5.

How can you continue to help the Hour of Code internationally?

• Help translate our tutorials. Visit code.org/translate for more info.
• Sign up to volunteer and inspire students about computer science. You can visit a classroom or participate remotely by video chat.
• Connect with an International Partner. You may have one in your country that organizes the Hour of Code! Check out the list.

Tanya Parker, Code.org