Who is surfing the Internet in Romania and where

Romanians still lack interest or means for using Internet, recent study shows. Only 61.6 per cent of Romanians aged between 16 and 74 years old have ever used the Internet, given that over half (54.4 per cent) of all households have Internet access at home, the majority (70.9 per cent ) of them being located in cities, according to the Institute of Statistics (INS).

From the Internet users, 60 per cent use the service on or almost on a daily basis. By age groups, 52.5 per cent of men aged 35-44 have surfed the Internet daily or almost daily, compared to 54.4 per cent of women, while in the age group 55-64 years old the situation is reversed, the difference between men and women regarding Internet usage daily or almost daily being of 6 per cent (35 per cent women and 41 per cent men), reads an INS press release.

On development regions, the share of people who have used the Internet was 80.7 per cent in the Bucharest – Ilfov area, being the highest percentage in the country. The Capital City is followed by the Western and North-Eastern regions with 70.4 per cent and 62.6 per cent, the other regions recording a usage degree below 60 per cent.

A large part of households (84.7 per cent) uses PCs to access Internet from home. Laptops (or netbooks, tablets) are being used by 1 in 3 households. In a much smaller proportion are being used other devices such as mobile phones and smartphones (20 per cent).

The types of connection used to access the Internet from home are in a proportion of 88.2 per cent fixed broadband connections, mobile broadband connections (24.5 per cent) and the narrowband connections (9.1 per cent).

Four members’ families have Internet access at home in a proportion of 78.5 per cent, these being followed by families with three members (78.2 per cent) and families with five members or more (65.2 per cent), while households with two people have Internet connection in a share of 42.3 per cent.

This year, the proportion of those aged 16 to 74 who used at least once a computer is similar to that of those who used the Internet in a proportion of 63.2 per cent, in the cities their number being double compared to those in rural areas.

More than half of the rural population aged between 16 and 74 has never used a computer. Even the youngsters aged16-34 years old have used the computer in a percentage of 22.7.

Nearly 1 in 10 young people aged 16-24 years old have never used a computer, and for the 25-34 yo ones the percentage is 16. 24.4 per cent of Romanians aged 35-44 years old and 40.9 per cent of those aged 45-54 years old are using the computer.