Observation and Benchmarking News Family ICT Use 2006 Family ICT Use 2006
- 10/11/2006
68% of households with the Internet have a broadband connection
Portugal overtakes Italy and Ireland in terms of households with broadband
The INE – National Statistics Institute released a statement to the media yesterday on the 2006 Survey on Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by Families, which was conducted in collaboration between this institute and the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC). This survey, which is conducted yearly and in accordance with Eurostat’s methodological recommendations, refers to data from the 1st quarter of 2006.
The number of households with broadband Internet access rose 20% from 2005 to 2006, increasing from 20% to 24%. 68% of households with the Internet now have a broadband connection. According to Eurostat data published today, the figure for Portugal is now above that of Italy (16%), Ireland (13%) and Greece (4%) in the EU15, overtaking Italy and Ireland from 2005 to 2006.
The percentage of those with secondary schooling using the Internet is 80%, whereas it was 77% in 2005 and Portugal lay in 4th place in the EU behind the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark only.
The percentage of those having attended higher education using the Internet is 87%, while it was 85% in 2005 and Portugal lay in 7th place behind the aforementioned countries and Luxemburg, Finland and the United Kingdom only.
The percentage of those with the 9th year or less of schooling using the Internet is 19% in 2006, compared with 16% in 2005. This educational group saw the highest growth (19%). However, this figure is still one of the lowest in the EU15, as Portugal had the third lowest rate for this indicator in the EU15 in 2005, above Italy (14%) and Greece (6%) only, and the current figure for Portugal (19%) is the same as that achieved by Ireland and Spain in 2005, when no other EU15 countries had lower figures.
91% of people who have attended higher education, 87% of those with secondary schooling and 27% of people with the 9th year of schooling or less respectively use computers. These figures were 90%, 86% and 24% respectively in 2005. The most growth (13%) occurred in the group with the lowest level of schooling, while the figures for the groups with secondary schooling and higher education have risen moderately, but have already hit high percentages. In actual fact, Portugal lay in 2nd and 7th place in the EU15 countries in these two groups respectively in 2005. Portugal only trailed the Netherlands and only trailed this country, three Nordic countries, Luxemburg and the United Kingdom in the second group.
In terms of the objectives of Internet use, the highest increase can be seen in searching for health information. 39% of people said they use the Internet for this purpose, although the figure was already relatively high – 31%- in 2005. This indicator saw a 26% increase from 2005 to 2006.