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Published: 9 December 2016

Finnish residents use the Internet more and more often

Eighty-eight per cent of Finnish residents used the Internet in 2016. Almost everybody aged 55 or under used the web. Seventy-two per cent were online several times a day. The Internet was most commonly used for everyday errands, information search, communication and following the media. Twelve per cent of Finns had rented accommodation from a private person via the web.

Prevalence of Internet usage and certain purposes of use in 2016

	Used the Internet 1)	Uses the Internet usually several times a day	Used the Internet with a mobile phone outside home and workplace 1)	Used the Internet with a tablet outside home and workplace 1)	Reserved a doctor’s appointment online 1)	Followed a social media service 1)	Rented private accommodation online for own use 2)
	percentage of population
16-24	100	97	93	23	22	89	8
25-34	99	96	93	27	38	88	18
35-44	100	94	92	38	46	79	23
45-54	99	83	75	34	40	59	16
55-64	92	64	53	24	36	39	10
65-74	74	38	27	14	23	21	2
75-89	31	16	6	3	8	5	0
Men	89	73	68	26	28	54	11
Women	87	71	62	23	36	58	12
Total	88	72	65	24	32	56	12

1) During the past 3 months
2) During the past 12 months

Eighty-eight per cent of the population aged 16 to 89 used the Internet in 2016. Almost everybody aged 55 or under used the web. A fairly large share of the population in older age groups still did not use the Internet. Among persons aged 65 to 74, seventy-four per cent were web users and 31 per cent among those aged 75 to 89. The use of the Internet becomes more common only in the oldest age groups. The share of users in total population increased by two percentage points compared to 2015. This appears from Statistics Finland's survey on use of information and communications technology for the year 2016.

Finnish residents use the Internet more and more often. Seventy-two per cent of Finns used the web several times a day. The share grew by five percentage points from the year before. Ninety-six per cent of people aged under 45 were online many times a day. It was also common for older Internet users to use the web actively. More than one-half of those aged 75 to 89, who had taken the Internet into use, used it several times a day. However, calculated from the whole age group, the share was only 16 per cent.

The Internet is nowadays at hand and accessible continuously. On the move, it is used primarily with a mobile phone. Sixty-five per cent had used the Internet with a mobile phone outside home and workplace. Correspondingly, 24 per cent had used the net with a tablet.

The Internet is most commonly used for everyday errands, information search, communication and following the media. Eighty-one per cent of persons aged 16 to 89 had used online banking in the last three months in 2016. Seventy-nine per cent had used email and as many had searched the net for information about products and services. Information was also generally sought on the websites of authorities and other public services (72%). The most common web media were online papers and news pages of TV channels, which had been read by 74 per cent.

The popularity of social network services continued to grow in 2016 in all age groups except for those aged 16 to 24. Fifty-six per cent of the population aged 16 to 89 had followed social network services in the past three months. The share grew by three percentage points from the year before. In the 16 to 24 age group, the share of those following social network services fell by four percentage points to 89 per cent.

Twelve per cent of Finns aged 16 to 89 had rented accommodation from a private person online during the past year. Nine per cent had rented accommodation through accommodation agency services and four per cent through social media services or other websites. Renting of private accommodation was most common in the 35 to 44 age group. Only four per cent of Finns had acquired transportation offered by private persons on the web.

In place of telephone interviews, the survey on the use of information and communications technology started to use in 2016 mixed-mode data collection, where respondents can choose whether to fill in a questionnaire online or take part in a telephone interview.

The 2016 survey also renewed the method by which the survey data are weighted to correspond to the entire population with regard to non-response. In the new calculation method, the persons' educational level and native language are also taken into account. To make the results of the 2016 and 2015 surveys comparable with regard to the calculation method of weights, a revision was made to the 2015 survey data by re-calculating the weights in accordance with the new method.

The appendix tables of the release for 2015 are published again with the figures produced from the revised data. There are changes in the results for 2015, but they are primarily quite minor. For this reason, the texts of the release publication and review for 2015 have not been changed, for which reason the figures there may differ somewhat from the figures of the renewed appendix tables.

Source: Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Rauli Kohvakka 029 551 3448, Perttu Melkas 029 551 2511, tietoyhteiskunta.info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 9.12.2016