OTTAWA – More Canadians are going online, with 73%, or 19.2 million aged 16 or older going online for personal reasons in 2007, according to the Canadian Internet Use Survey released last week by Statistics Canada.
The figure is up from 68% in 2005 when the survey was last conducted. The 2007 survey included young people, aged 16 and 17, for the first time, and they accounted for almost 1% of the 5% increase in Internet use between 2005 and 2007.
The survey also showed that people living in urban areas continued to be more likely to have used the Internet than those from smaller towns and rural areas. Only 65% of residents living in small towns or rural areas accessed the Internet, well below the national average, while 76% of urban residents did so. Both percentages were higher than in 2005.
On average, men were online more often and for longer periods than women.
Higher earners, higher educated and younger Canadians were the most apt to go online.
Some 91% of people earning more than $95,000 a year used the Internet – almost twice the proportion of people (47%) earning less than $24,000 who went online.
In terms of education, 84% of individuals with at least some post-secondary education used the Internet in 2007, compared with 58% of those who had less education. But the gap is smaller than it was in 2005.
In 2007, 96% of persons aged 16 to 24 went online, more than three times the 29% among seniors aged 65 and older. But Internet use has increased among all age groups since 2005.
As well, high-speed connections are becoming far more prevalent. An estimated 88% of people who accessed the Internet at home did so with a high-speed connection in 2007, up from 80% two years earlier. The growth was driven by new users and by existing users switching from a slower service.
E-mail and general browsing continued to be the most popular online activities from home, but many Canadians have begun to use it for banking, paying bills and ordering goods or services. Others are beginning to generate their own content through blogs and/or participating in discussion groups.
One-fifth (20%) of home Internet users reported contributing content by posting images, writing blogs, or participating in discussion groups. Of these people, over one-half were under the age of 30. And 50% of home Internet users used an instant messenger during 2007.
The increased use of broadband has also meant a rise in downloading or watching movies or television, and downloading music.
The 2007 Canadian Internet Use Survey was conducted in October and November 2007 as a supplement to the Labour Force Survey. More than 26,500 Canadians aged 16 years and over were asked about their Internet use, including shopping, for the past 12 months.
