Internet a daily habit for most Canadians
Almost two-thirds of Canadians with home access to the internet use the web daily, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.
An estimated 7.9 million Canadian families, or 16.8 million adults, connect to the internet at home, says the Canadian Internet Use Survey released Tuesday.
The survey asked more than 30,000 Canadians aged 18 years and over about their internet use for 2005.
The internet has changed the way Canadians get their news and conduct their banking. It’s become a common source for travel information and occupies hours out of the week for millions of Canadians.
The survey found men and women use the internet in roughly equal numbers, a change from 2001, when more men than women were online.
But there are clear differences in the way men and women use the internet, with women more likely to seek out health or medical information and men more likely to access government websites.
Men spend more time online
About 56 per cent of men had used the internet to download government forms or file income taxes, compared to 48 per cent of women.
Men spend more time on the internet, with 43 per cent going online for more than 10 hours a week, compared to about 34 per cent of women.
The most common use of the internet by Canadians is e-mail, used by 91 per cent of households with home access, followed by general browsing (84 per cent), seeking information about weather or road conditions (67 per cent) and travel arrangements or bookings (63 per cent).
Six out of 10 users regularly seek out their news or sports information online and the same number pay their bills online.
Younger users, defined as those under 25, were more likely to report using the web for education, training or school work. Sixty-one per cent of young people used it to play games.
The majority of internet users reported having a high-speed connection, with half using cable and 59 per cent of those connecting via telephone having a high-speed service.
Rural use lags
There is still a digital divide, as Canadians with higher incomes, better education, children in the home or living in urban areas are more likely to have internet access.
Only 58 per cent of residents of small towns or rural areas accessed the worldwide web at home, well below the national average of 68 per cent of all Canadians.
Rates of internet use in cities were much higher, ranging from 68 per cent in Montreal to 77 per cent in Ottawa-Gatineau or Calgary.
About 81 per cent of households with children under age 18 had internet access, compared with 61 per cent of households without children.
About 85 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 44 used the internet, compared with only half of those 45 years of age and older.
Among Canadians with a personal computer who did not use the internet from home, 29 per cent said they had no interest, 25 per cent said they had no need for it and 16 per cent said it cost too much.
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