Thursday, May 12, 2005
Almost Three-Quarters of All U.S. Adults Go Online
ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 12 -- The numbers of adults who are online at home, in the office, at school, library or other locations continue to grow albeit at a somewhat slower rate. In the past eight months the number of online users has reached an estimated 163 million, a four percent increase. In addition, broadband use continues to grow rapidly - over half (54%) of adults who go online use broadband at home.
In research among 2,022 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone in February and April 2005, Harris Interactive found that 74 percent of adults are now online, up from 73 percent in the summer of 2004, 66 percent in the spring of 2002, 64 percent in 2001 and 57 percent in 2000. When Harris Interactive first began to track Internet use in 1995, only nine percent of adults reported they were online.
This recent growth in Internet penetration seems to be the result of increased Internet access at other locations though usage at home and work has also increased slightly. Adults who are online at a location other than their home or work rose to 21 percent up from 17 percent in 2004 and 16 percent in 2003. The proportion of adults who are now online at home has risen to 66 percent, up from 65 percent in 2004 and 61 percent in 2003. Those online at work have risen to 36 percent from 34 percent in 2004 and 31 percent in 2003.
By far the most striking change in this new Harris Interactive research is the big increase in those with broadband connections. In the spring of 2002 only 22 percent of adults who are online had broadband (including ISDN, cable, ADSL/DSL, T1 and T3 lines) connections. By October/December 2003, this had increased to 37 percent. It is now up to 54 percent of all those online.
As Internet penetration rises, the demographic profile of Internet users continues to look more like that of the nation as a whole. It is still true that more young than older people, and more affluent than low-income people, are online. But eight percent of those online are now age 65 or over (compared to 15% of all adults who are 65 or over), 38 percent of those online (compared to 47% of all adults) did not go to college and 16 percent have incomes of less than $25,000 (compared to 21% of all adults).
(1) Based on July 2004 U.S. Census estimate released January 2005
(220,000,000 total U.S. adults aged 18 or over).
TABLE 1
ONLINE FROM HOME, WORK OR OTHER LOCATION - TRENDS 1995-2005
"At home, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
"At work, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
"At another location, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?" "Excluding email, how many hours per week, on average, do you typically spend on the Internet or World Wide Web?"
Base: All Adults
Online adults
Average
(Mean)
Hours Per
Total Online Online at Week
Adults Online at Other Spent
Online at Home Work Location Online
% % % %
2005
February/April 74 66 36 21 9
2004
June/ August 73 65 34 17 8
2003
October/December 69 61 31 16 9
2002
November/December 67 57 28 18 7
February/March 66 55 30 19 8
2001
September/October 64 52 28 19 7
March/April 64 53 27 20 7
2000
October/November 63 49 29 17 7
April/May 57 45 24 15 7
1999
December 56 46 N/A N/A 7
1998
January/February 35 22 22 N/A N/A
1997
May/June 30 16 18 N/A N/A
1996
June/September 19 16 16 N/A N/A
1995
September/November 9 N/A N/A N/A N/A
NOTE: N/A means "not asked"
TABLE 2
PC AND INTERNET USE - TRENDS 1995-2005
"Do you personally use a computer at home, work or another location?"
"At home, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
"At work, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
"At another location, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
Base: All Adults
Proportion of all adults (from Percent of
work, home, school or other Computer
location) Users Who Are
Use PC Are Online Online
% % %
2005
February/April 79 74 94
2004
June/ August 78 73 93
2003
October/December 75 69 92
2002
November/December 74 67 92
February/March 74 66 90
2001
September/October 73 64 88
March/April 72 64 89
2000
October/November 74 63 85
April/May 69 57 83
1999
December 69 56 81
June/July 65 48 74
January/February 63 41 65
1998
January/February 63 35 56
1997
May/June 61 30 49
1996
June/September 54 19 35
1995
September/November 50* 9 18
NOTES:
1. All samples of 2,000 or more adults, conducted by telephone.
2. "Are Online" includes all adults who use Internet from home, office,
school, library or other location.
* Estimated from other sources.
TABLE 3
PROFILE OF ONLINE POPULATION
(February-April 2005)
"At home, do you personally use a computer to Access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
"At work, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
"At another location, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
Base: All Adults
Total U.S.
Adult Total U.S. Adult Percentage Point
Online Population Difference
Population
% % %
AGE
18 - 29 25 22 +3
30 - 39 21 18 +3
40 - 49 21 20 +1
50+ 29 37 -8
50 - 64 29 22 +7
65 + 8 15 -7
SEX
Men 49 48 +1
Women 51 52 -1
RACE/ETHNICITY
White 75 76 -1
Black 11 12 -1
Hispanic 13 12 +1
EDUCATION
High school or less 38 47 -9
Some college 30 27 +3
College graduate (or 32 25 +7
postgraduate)
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
Less than $25,000 16 21 -5
$25,000 to less than
$50,000 23 23 0
$50,000 and over 52 44 +8
TABLE 4
ESTIMATED NUMBERS OF ADULTS WHO ARE ONLINE (IN MILLIONS)
"At home, do you personally use a computer to Access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
"At work, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
"At another location, do you personally use a computer to access the
Internet/World Wide Web?"
Base: All Adults
In Millions
2005
February/April 163*
2004
June/August 156
2003
October/December 146
2002
November/December 140
February/March 137
2001
September/October 127
March/April 126
2000
October/November 121
April/May 114
1999
December 113
1998
January/February 70
1997
May/June 59
1996
June/September 33
1995
September/November 17.5
* Based on July 2004 U.S. Census estimate released January 2005
(220,000,000 total adults aged 18 or over)
TABLE 5
TYPE OF INTERNET CONNECTION "What type of Internet connection do you have for your home computer or other
primary computer?"
Base: Adults online
February/ November/ October/ June/ April
March December December August 2005
2002 2002 2003 2004
% % % % %
14.4k modem 1 2 2 1 2
28.8k modem 4 5 4 4 3
33.6k modem 2 2 2 2 1
56k modem 39 29 20 23 18
ISDN line* 1 1 1 1 1
Cable modem* 13 14 21 22 24
ADSL/DSL* 7 11 14 19 28
T1 or T3 line* 1 1 2 2 1
Other 4 6 6 4 7
Not sure 27 27 25 21 14
Decline to answer 1 2 2 1 *
TOTAL BROADBAND (NET)* 22% 27% 37% 44% 54%
*Includes ISDN, cable, ADSL/DSL, T1 or T3 lines.
Methodology
The poll is based on 2,022 interviews with adults aged 18 and over conducted by telephone within the United States during February 2005 and April 2005. Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.
In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.
Impotent ex-husband must pay damages
ROME (Reuters) - An impotent Italian man who kept his problem a secret from his wife until after their wedding must pay her damages for 'eroding' her right to have a family, Italy's Supreme Court has ruled.
The woman, identified by the Italian media as Cristina S., was quick to get her marriage annulled in the 1990s after learning to her horror that her husband could not consummate it.
MaxStream Releases Long Range Wireless Ethernet Bridge
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The matched-pair, point-to-point radios require no configuration or software and effectively replace an Ethernet cable. Twelve non-overlapping user selectable channels allow multiple radio pairs to operate in proximity of each other without creating interfering signals.
