To me, the sentence wasn't awkward. Rather, the way the probability was implied ignored that the best (most skilled) employees are not evenly distributed across the globe. I would wager your likelihood of randomly choosing a 'top' candidate from the 2.5bn pool compared to the 0.023bn to be something near 1:500, for example. But, you do still have a point. An alternative phrasing, which acknowledges the irregular distribution, might be:
"2.5 billion people in the world have internet access.
Statistically speaking, the chances that the best person
for us to hire for any position is among the 0.023 billion
people in the New York metro area is unlikely, even
considering the high concentration of talent in New York."