ICT usage in households, 2003, 2nd quarter

Generally, families with children have access to information and communication technology more often than others. The portion of households with a PC and the Internet is 21 and 25 percentage point higher in families with children than in families without children.

A PC and access to the Internet were also more common in households with high income. While 95 per cent of the households with a total gross income higher than NOK 600 000 had a PC, the portion among households with income less than NOK 200 000 was 46 per cent. The corresponding figures for the Internet was 87 per cent in the highest income group and 32 per cent in the lowest.

ADSL almost as common as modem

A good 60 per cent of the households having access to the Internet the second quarter of the year had traditional modem or an ISDN line. The rest had permanent connection, i.e. they do not have to dial to connect to the Internet.

ADSL is the most common type of permanent connection, and of all households in Norway almost 14 per cent had this subscription type. In comparison, 16 per cent of the households had modem and 17 per cent an ISDN line.

Half of the population use a PC every day

80 per cent of the population had used a PC the last 3 months. This includes use at home, at work, at place of education or at other places. More than half of the population used a PC at least once each weekday. The portion of men that had used a PC was higher than the portion of women, and men had also used a PC more frequently than women.

The age group 25 to 54 years had the highest portion of daily PC users. However, the age group 16 to 24 years had the highest portion of people using a PC every week but not every day. Among people using a PC more seldom the distribution among the age groups is quite even.

Men are most frequently on the Internet

Three quarters of the population had used the Internet at home, at work or other places during the last three months. While 80 per cent of the men used the Internet in this period, the portion of women was only 70 per cent. Almost half of the men had used the Internet daily, while 30 per cent of the female population had used the Internet as frequently.

The distribution of frequency on the Internet by age groups is quite similar to the pattern for PC use. Among the daily users, the age group 25 to 34 years have the highest portion. 16 to 24 year olds dominate those who use the Internet weekly, but not daily.

Surfing the main activity

Almost everybody that had used the Internet the last three months had been searching for information or used online services. The portion of people that had used the Internet for communication was almost equally high.

Seven of ten had used the Internet for purchase/sale of goods and services the last three months. More than half of the Internet users had visited the websites of public authorities during the same period. Only seven of hundred had used the Internet in connection with training and education

Travels and holiday accommodations were among the most popular Internet purchases. More than half of the people that had made purchases on the Internet had bought or ordered travels or holiday accommodations. 37 per cent had bought or ordered books, magazines and learning material, while 34 per cent had purchased tickets for different arrangements.

Every fifth PC user had computer virus problems

21 per cent of the population with a PC had encountered problems with computer virus during the last year. Less common were problems with fraudulent payment card use or abuse of personal information due to Internet use. Half of the PC owners had installed or updated a viruschecking program the last three months.

First time

Statistics Norway conducted this survey for the first time in 2003. Thus, it is not possible to make time series on these statistics. Some of the variables, like access to a PC and the Internet, can be found in the Norwegian media barometer .

For more information about the survey, see "About the statistics"

Tables:

• Table 1 Percentage with access to different ICT, by family type, household income, sex, age, education and employment situation. 2nd quarter of 2003
• Table 2 Percentage with different kinds of subscriptions, by family type, household income, sex, age, education and employment situation. 2003 (Corrected 07.12.2004)
• Table 3 Use of computers, by sex, age, education and employment situation. 2003
• Table 4 Percentage of PC users that has carried out certain PC related activities. 2003
• Table 5 Use of Internet, by sex, age, education and employment situation. 2003
• Table 6 Purpose and nature of activities on the Internet the last 3 months. Percentage of Internet users the last 3 months, by sex, age, education and employment situation. 2003
• Table 7 Types of goods and services bought or ordered over Internet for private use in last 12 months
• Table 8 Percentage of PC owners having encountered security problems and the percentage with virus checking program, by sex, age, education and employment situation. 2003