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Published: 28 September 2007

Internet used by 79 per cent of the population at the beginning of 2007

Nearly four out of five Finns aged 15 to 74, or over three million persons, used the Internet in spring 2007. The Internet was used at least once a week by 75 per cent of the population. These data derive from Statistics Finland annual information and communication technology (ICT) user survey, which is conducted as telephone interviews.

Nearly all under 40-year-olds used the Internet, but the share of users starts to shrink after age 40. Only four out of ten persons aged over 60 browsed www pages on the Internet. Equal proportions of men and women used the Internet, but the user shares varied slightly by age group. Men were clearly more active in using the Internet than women only in the age group of 60 to 74-year-olds.

Internet use has become two per cent more common at the level of the whole population during the past 12 months. The growth slowed down from that of the preceding five years, when the annual growth in the proportion of users averaged four percentage points. The growth in Internet use has been rather steady in recent years, but its pace has slowed down.

Internet users, spring 2000 to spring 2007 ¹⁾ , percentage of 15 to 74-year-olds

More and more people shop online. Of the whole population 32 per cent had ordered or purchased products online for personal or household use during the first quarter of 2007. In addition, 20 per cent of the population had shopped online sometime earlier. Online shopping was most popular among the 30 to 49-year-olds. Every second person in this age group shopped online. Age group differences in the shares of online shoppers have narrowed clearly less during the current decade than age group differences in the shares of Internet users.

Voters in elections can nowadays use an online election engine when deciding for whom to cast their vote. In the Parliamentary elections of this past spring, 34 per cent of those who voted had used an election engine in selecting the party or candidate to vote for. Of the voters who use the Internet at least weekly, as many as 45 per cent used an online election engine. Roughly one-half of the voters who used an election engine reported that the election engine increased their interest in the elections at least somewhat.

Internet continues to be used more in densely populated than in sparsely populated areas, even though differences between the shares of Internet users by level of urbanisation narrowed early on in the decade. After 2003 the difference between the most densely and the most sparsely populated areas has been roughly 20 percentage points. People younger than 40 years use the Internet nearly as much regardless of area, whereas people aged over 40 living in cities browse www pages on the Internet more often than their counterparts in rural areas.

Source: Survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals 2007. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Mr Timo Sirkiä +358 9 1734 2622, firstname.lastname@stat.fi

Director in charge: Ms Riitta Harala

Tables

Appendix tables

• Purposes of the use of the Internet in spring 2007, per cent of Internet users (28.9.2007)

Figures

• Average number of junk email messages per week, per cent of persons having received of junk email, in spring 2007 (28.9.2007)
• Internet users, spring 2001 to spring 2007, percentage of 15 to 74-year-olds by age group (28.9.2007)
• Online shoppers during the past three months in spring 2001 - 2007, per cent of total age group (28.9.2007)
• Online shopping by product category in spring 2007, per cent of all buyers (28.9.2007)
• Percent of respondents who have used the Internet during the past three months by gender and age group in spring 2007 (28.9.2007)
• Places of Internet use in spring 2007, per cent of 15-74 years old population (28.9.2007)
• Respondents who agree fully or to some extent with the statement I prefer to run my errands by phone rather than by computer or letter , per cent of gender and age group in 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2007 (in 2007, population aged 15 to 74) (28.9.2007)
• Time of latest online purchase in spring 2007, per cent of population aged 15 to 74 (28.9.2007)

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Last updated 28.9.2007