Why has IPv4 become increasingly scarce?

IPv4 has become increasingly scarce primarily due to the growth of the internet. When the internet first began gaining traction, there were relatively few users and devices needing unique IP addresses. However, as the internet expanded, the number of connected devices grew exponentially, leading to a situation where the available IPv4 address space became insufficient to accommodate all users and devices.

IPv4 uses a 32-bit addressing scheme, which allows for a total of about 4.3 billion unique addresses. With the advent of smartphones, IoT devices, and an ever-growing population of internet users, this pool of addresses has been rapidly depleted. This situation prompted the development and adoption of IPv6, which uses a 128-bit address space, vastly increasing the number of available IP addresses to cater to future growth.

Advancements in technology, while facilitating improved connectivity and more devices, have not directly influenced the scarcity of IPv4 addresses. The complexity of IPv4 relates more to network configuration and management, rather than its availability. Lastly, security reasons are more associated with how IPv4 addresses can be secured or manipulated rather than being a driver for scarcity.