According to a recent article in The Economist, "technology is spreading to emerging markets faster than it has ever done anywhere."  The World Bank studied how long it took after the initial invention of a new technology for 80% of surveyed countries to  report use. 

The result are that adoption rates have decreased dramatically in the past 200 years (see graph). Whereas it took 120 for trains to be adopted in "developing" countries in the 19th century and 60 years for aviation and radios to be adopted in the 20th century, it has taken only 20 years for personal