Swedes and the Internet Year 2003

Swedes and the InternetYear 2003

Olle Findahl

Presented at the World Internet Project Tokyo Meeting

13-15 July 2004

www.worldinternetinstitute.org

Swedes and the Internet Year 2003 2

There are several ways to measure access and use of Internet. There are different measures tochoose among and the sample used as the base for the statistics can vary. In comparison withtraditional media statistics with of all agreed upon measures for newspaper reading and TV-watching, that is not the case for Internet statistics. The age groups included in the samplescan be different like the time span that the measure for time refers to.

As young people use Internet more than older people it is of great importance if the sampleused as a base for the statistics is 18-85 years or restricted to 18-60 years. The younger thesample the higher the measure for access and use. It is not uncommon in international Internetstatistics that elderly people are excluded.

It is also important to make a distinction between access and use. Access is always higherthan use as some people with access to Internet do not use it. Access can also be dividedbetween access to Internet at home, at work, or anywhere. In Sweden, access to Internet athome, has always been high in an international perspective, as many Swedes have access to acomputer at home.

When it comes to the measure of use and users the time span is important. Is it enough thatsomeone sometime has tested Internet to be counted as a Internet user, or has one to have useit during last year, or last month, last week or yesterday. The longer time interval the moreusers you will find. In this report and in a lot of international statistics like in World InternetProject, the week is used as the measure. But if you want to make a comparison withnewspaper reading and TV-watching you should use a daily measure like use in an averageday or yesterday.

Whatever measure you use, however, access and Internet use have increased between year2000 and 2003. (See diagram at the top). The highest figure, 80%, we get if we use themeasure "access to Internet anywhere" in a restricted sample 18-64 years. The more officialfigure, used in international comparisons, is 65% related to access to Internet at home amongSwedes-85 years.

Internet statistics in different ways

0102030405060708090

triedInternet

access tointernet

access tointernet at

home

usedinternet at

home

usedinternet

yesterday

200320022000


If we consider that figure, Internet at home, the Swedes will be at the top of the internationalInternet statistics. The diagram below is measured in a different way and includes those whohave used Internet somewhere during a week and included are the countries that belong to theWorld Internet Project. There are still big differences between countries, but the distancebetween countries like Sweden and USA and many other countries have decreased as thespread of Internet has stagnated in USA and Sweden. The digital divide between rich andpoor countries has, however, not vanished and seems to remain for many years to come.

The penetration of Internet has slowed down but still continuous

If we follow the diffusion curve (below) during the years we can notice the rapid increaseduring the last years of the 90-ties. Year 2000, when 50% of the Swedes had access toInternet, there is was a trend change and the diffusion curve starts to level out.

Access to computer and internet at home

0102030405060708090

100

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Internet

Computer

Population%

Percent of Users

71,1

66,1

60,9 59,2

50,4 4945,9

40,836,4

32,9 31,2

24,2

17,5

5,3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

USA

Sweden

Korea UKJa

pan

Hongkong

German

y

Singapore

SpainMac

ao Italy

Taiwan

HungaryChina

% o

f pop

ulat

ion

%

World Internet Institute dec 2003


At that moment, year 2000, the development could have stopped and the Swedish populationremained divided in two halves of about the same side; those with and those without Internet.In that case Internet would have been a technique only for some like computers were formany years. But the diffusion of Internet has continued and new persons are gettingconnected even if there are also some dropouts, and still there are many Swedes withoutaccess.

If we look closer at what has happened during the last four years (diagram below) we can finda gradually increase of access to Internet at home in all age groups, except among the oldest.The development is very similar in all groups even among the youngest of the retired. Thelargest increase we can find among those 25-34 years old. Even if the access among those inthe middle ages is above 80% there is no sign of ceiling effects.

Access to internet at home 2000, 2002, 2003

5458

69

64

48

17

10

60

69

7672

56

24

11

70

8184

81

62

31

12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-

2000 2002 2003

% of the population

age


The difference between men and women has decreased

During the last years also the difference between men and women, when it comes to access toInternet has decreased. Among those middle-aged the difference has vanished but it is still tobe found among the oldest and the youngest. Especially the difference between young menand women is noticeable.

In an international perspective the difference between men and women is small in Swedenlike in USA and in Taiwan, contrary to the situation in South Europe countries like Italy andSpain.

Percentage of men and women with access to internet

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-

Men

Women Men

Women

age

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-

Access to Internet at home among women, year 2000, 2002, 2003

2002

2002

2000

2000

2003

2003


There are more Swedes with access to Internet at home than at work

There are far from all occupations where there is access to Internet. It is twice as commonamong white-collar occupations compared to blue-collar occupations. Among the middle-aged many have access to Internet both at home and at work while among the young and oldones it is mostly at home.

Acces to internet at home and at work

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-

at work

at home

% population


Who do not have access to Internet?

The majority of the old people do not have access to Internet but there are also 25-30 %without access in other age groups even among the youngest. If we make an estimation andcalculate the number of people behind the figures we find that there are 750 000 Swedes morethan 75 years old and 560 000 retired between 65 and 75 years without access. There are also1 million young people and more than 1 million middle-aged without access. That means, ifwe sum up, that there are more than 3 millions of Swedes without access to the newinformation society.

Those without access to Internet?

32

23 25

37

51

76

93

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-

% population

More than 3 million Swedes do not have access to Internet

335754

271483312817

442117

570844 563162

737297

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+

anta

l

age

estimated number


The digital divide

If we combine 5 groups of education, from primary education to university exam, and 5groups of income, from low to high, we come up with 25 combinations. We can thancalculate the percent of those in every group with access to Internet (se the diagram above). Inthe back corner we can find the group with the highest education and the highest income andin the corner in the front we can find those with low education and low income (mostly oldpeople). There is an increase in access with higher education and higher income. Among thegroups in front there are 25-30% with access to Internet and among the groups in the back90% or more have Internet.

In spite of these differences, the equality in Sweden is better than in most other countries.Even if there is a digital divide in Sweden there is a larger divide in other countries (seediagram below). In Sweden most of the well educated and wealthy have access to Internet.The situation is the same in most rich countries around the world like USA, Korea and UK,but also in Spain, Japan, Germany and Italy. But contrary to many other countries the Internetin Sweden has spread widely to all occupation groups, and the young ones are notdominating. In the diagram below with data, gathered in the World Internet Project, we cansee that the access to Internet in Sweden is the highest among the rich and also the highestamong the poor.

1

3

5

S1S2

S3S4

S5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

income

education

Percentage of different income-education groups with access to Internet

high

highlow

low


Access to Broadband is more evenly spread

As broadband connections in Sweden has been installed in many housing estates in the citieswhere many people live, the diffusion has not so clearly followed the socio-economicconditions as was seen earlier. However this is only the beginning of a development whereeconomy will be important as many people thinks that broadband connections are tooexpensive.

12

34

56

12

34

5

46

2624

2119

35

34

22

48

1212

20

3942

2328

20

50

47

25

1917

17

5

35

2428

14

67

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

incomeeducation

Percentage of different income-education groups with broadband

high

low

high

low

Internet use among those with high and low income

93

74

90

6663

81

55

68

43

6360

24

4946

43

3328

24 2218 18

12 11

20

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Sweden Korea USA Japan Germany UK Singapore Spain Taiwan Macao Italy Hungary

25% with the highest income 25% with the lowest income%


Why do not people get a computer and the Internet?

As we have seen there are more than 3 millions of Swedes that are not connected to theInternet. Why? Are there economical or practical reasons? Is it too expensive or toocomplicated? Are people afraid or not at all interested? In the diagram below we can see thatamong the Swedes, 18 years or older, there are 26% without access to a computer at home.Still 10% more have a computer but are not connected and further 8% have access to Internetbut do not use it. Left is 56% of the population as we can count as Internet users even if someof them use Internet very little. 23% of the population, 40% of the users, have got abroadband connection and 33% have Internet but not broadband

What are then the reasons not to use Internet? Let us start with those without computer andInternet (See the first diagram on the next page). Most of them, around a million, say that theyare not interested. Internet is not their cup of tea. Than there is a group (350 000) who givespractical explanations: they have just moved, are divorced etc. A smaller number, 13% ofthose without computer and Internet, gives economical reasons. There is though primarily theinterest and a driving force to get Internet that is lacking. There can of course be differentreasons behind that.

The next group are those with a computer but without Internet. Also here is the reasonprimarily a lack of interest, but at the second place comes economy. It is too expensive to getan Internet connection and it is too expensive to be online. Together with economicalproblems are also practical problems, like a too old computer, a broken modem, or that theysimply never succeeded to make a connection. There are also those who say that they do notwant their children to be online.

We also asked those with Internet but without a broadband connection if they wanted one andwhy they had not got one? They were all interested but it was too expensive. There are alsothose living in areas where a broadband connection is not possible of practical reasons.

Access to computer and internet 2003

no computer26%

internet but not broadband

33%

internet and broadband23%

computer but not internet

10%

internet but no use8%


Why not computer and Internet?

16

3,4

5,2

1,2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

not interested too expensive practical problems other obstacles

% of the population

Computer but why not Internet?

3,2

1,60,8 0,5

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

not interested too expensive practical problems not possible

% of population

Internet but why not broadband?

1,6

7,8

1,9

0,7

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

not interested too expensive practical problems not possible

% of population


Make a distinction between access and use and between use and use

Not everyone with access to Internet use Internet. The reason can be lack of interest or lack oftime or that someone else in the family is online all the time. Answering the question: Who isusing the Internet most? Many women answer; the children or the man.

But also the use varies. Some people use Internet daily, other are much more restricted in theiruse and some use Internet only at special occasions.

If we divide the Swedes according to their access and use we will get six groups: those whodo not have a computer, those who have a computer but no Internet connection, those who areonline rarely, those who use Internet a few times a week, and at last the daily users. 24% ofthe Swedes are daily users at home and they are the "real" Internet users. If we add those whouse Internet daily at work (diagram at the bottom) but not at home we sum up to 35% of dailyInternet users.

Internet use among Swedes at home and at work

daily at work12%

few times a week at home or at work17%

seldom at home or at work7%

no internet use41%

internet dagligen hemma15%

internet dagligen både hemma och arbetet

8%


Young men spend most time online

As we seen before access to Internet was most common among the middle-aged, but when itcomes to use at home young people devote most time online. Men use Internet more thanwomen and this difference recurs in nearly all use of Internet. It does not matter if we measuretime in minutes or as a frequency (daily, weekly, monthly). At work however the middle-ageduse Internet the most and here the difference is smaller between men and women than athome.

A broadband connection belonged before only to the real Internet enthusiasts, but today whenmany family houses have broadband installed that is more common. As longer you have hadInternet the longer time you will spend online and that is especially true for broadband users.

Percent of men and women of different ages who are online daily

71

50

35 34 33

10 10

44

28 26

2017

10

00

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-

men women

Men

Women

age

Time use of Internet according to experience

2,53

5

3,15

8,5

15,5

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

<1,5 years 1,5-4 years >4 years

Hours/week

Internet experience

Broadband

Telephone modem


Also the frequency of use is affected of the kind of connection you have. Two of three with abroadband connection use Internet daily compared to 19 % of the modem users. Mostcommon for modem users are to be online a few time a week, while one of three use Internetless.

E-mail still the most popular activity

Nearly everyone going online use the possibility to send and receive e-mail. Then followsactivities that have to do with personal interests and hobbies. Surfing and banking is alsopopular.

If we compare broadband and modem users (see diagrams next page) we can see that thosegoing online with broadband are more active and especially when it comes to music, contactsearching, e-commerce and entertainment. This is a reflection of the way young heavy usersgoes online but it can also be a consequence of that a broadband connection opens up formore entertainment activities, compared to the more restricted practical use focused atusefulness characterising the modem user.

But that is not the whole story. If we look more closely at other not so common activities wecan see that even here a broadband connection makes a difference. It is not only music andcontact searching that broadband users are devoted to. They go online even for other activitiesand they spend twice as much time to get information from the community and localauthorities and about culture and politics.

Frequency going online modem vs broadband

17

6

14

43

19

63 4

21

66

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

never a few times a year a few times a month a few times a week daily

Broadband

Telephone modem


Online activities: A comparison between broadband and telephone modem users

Time devoted to different activities on the net

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

e-mail

hobb

ies

surfi

ng

natio

nal n

ews

music

bank

ing

local

news

seek

ing co

ntacts

newsp

aper

readin

gtra

vel

radio

intern

ation

al ne

ws

enter

tainm

ent

gaming

cultu

re

medica

l & he

alth

natio

nal a

uthori

ties

e-com

merce

local

autho

rities

tradin

g stoc

k

commun

ity in

formati

on

gove

rm./p

arliam

ent

politi

cs

aucti

ons

relati

ons

religi

on tvpo

rno

music

contact seeking

games

radio

nespaper reading

surfing

min/week

average time among users

Telephone modem users

Broadband users

Percent of broadband and modem users who are doing different activities on the net?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

e-mail

hobb

ies

bank

ing

surfi

ngtra

vel

natio

nal n

ews

newsp

aper

readin

g

local

news

enter

tainm

ent

intern

ation

al ne

ws

natio

nal a

uthori

ties

cultu

re

local

autho

rities

commujn

ity in

formati

on

e-com

merce

healt

h and

med

ical in

f

music

tradin

g stoc

k

gove

rnmen

t/pari

lamen

t

gaming

aucti

ons

seek

ing co

ntacts

politi

cs

work at

home

radio

relat

ions

religi

onpo

rno tv

surfing

newspaper reading

entertainment music

gaming

contact seekinge-commerceculture

radio


Percentage of Internet users who inform themselves on special websites,2002 and 2003

67

10

1516

7

11

2021

27

1514

26

3130

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

politics and political parties government and parlament the local community local authorithies national authorities

%

2002modem 2003

broadb 20032002 20022002 2002

modem 2003

modem 2003

broadb 2003

broadb 2003

Time as modem and broadband users spend at different activities

5,04,2 4,0 3,7 3,4

2,61,6 1,5

19,7

7,9

5,4

9,4

6,55,1

3,0

6,9

0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

20,0

25,0

cultu

re

medica

l info

natio

nal a

uthori

ty

e-com

merce

local

autho

rity

commun

ity in

fo

gove

rmen

t/parl

iamen

t

politi

cs

average min/week

broadband

modem


Television still the most important source of information

Answering the question what medium that is the most important source of information andknowledge? Most people answer: Television, newspapers, radio and books as first alternativesand Internet as the last. That was the case year 2000 and so is also the case, even more clearly,year 2003. Most Swedes still consider Internet as a complement to other media.

Two of three Swedes visit foreign websites

In most countries, especially in the big countries, the Internet use is focused on websites intheir own language from the home country. Even in a small country like Sweden dominatesthe national websites written in Swedish, but 63% of the Swedish internet users visit, at leastsometimes, foreign websites.

How often do you buy goods from the net?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2000 2002 2003

regularly

some time

10%

26%

34%

% of internet users

How important as source of information and knowledge?

3,63,7

3,5

3,8

3,23

3,63,5

3,2 3,3 3,2

2,3

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

5

TV Morning newspaper Radio Books Journals Internet

2000

2003

5-point scale


Common problems using Internet

59

4036

23 2319

58

16

48

1923

18

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

The computer use to hang To surf is to wait and wait Virus problems Print problems First time a a lot ofproblems

Problems with e-mail

telephone modem Broadband

% of users

Worrying

82

59

49

45

53

85

71

60

55

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

children have access to a lotof inappropriate material

Credit card fraud

personal information is notprotected

worrying with increasingcontrole possibilities

worrying with data virus

2003 2000

2000

2003


Do you feel involved in the new information society?

6056

54

42 43

35

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2000 2002 2003

no, not at all or only a little Yes, fully or to a great extent

NoNo

No

Yes Yes

Yes

% of population

¨


1 23

45

6

buy music online

listen to music online

able to download music

listen to music (week)

8682

79

7166

49

71

56

46

35

21

7

41

32

20

12

6

1

14 1612

8

20

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Music and Internet

% of population

age


Access to different media technologies in different ages

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-

moblle

internetcomputer

DVD

broadband mobile

Access to different media technologies at families with and without children

80

65

55

20 19

93 94

86

3234

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

mobile computer internet broadband dvd

families with children

no children

%


The Swedes access to new technology

80 7874

34

22

96 4 4 2 0,2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

video mobile computer CD-burner

DVD network GPRS-mobile

PDA GPS camera-mobile

3G-mobile

% of population

Swedes and the Internet Year 2003

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