Internet Statistics from the CSO

vinnyfitz

The CSO today published some very interesting and depressing statistics obtained as part of the June '03 Quarterly Household Survey. I'm sure we can all think of questions we wished thay had asked but even what they publish today is very significant. Don't mind the press release - download the report from here.

The 5th column on Page 20 is particularly interesting I think.

Only 37.6% of the population have ever! used the internet.
That drops to 27% of all those in the Midlands
Only 52% of 25 to 34 year olds appear to have been on-line and
incredibly only 63% of students are internet users!

Lots more to be dug out of this. Have a look.

spongebob

Where do Comreg get their Quarterly survey figures from, they consistently say that 40% actually HAVE HOME INTERNET ACCESS as on page 27 of this Spiel in the Dáil . Now we find out that only 38% have ever used the Internet, I think usage is a good barometer of access , personally.

Now that the CSO has come up with definitive data I wonder if Comreg will show the DROP in their usage figures as they adjust them to reality. Their next quarterly figures are due soon, must contact them to remind them that these are official figures available free from the CSO and that Internet Usage in Ireland will drop 10% or so in those Quarterly figures.

Being Comreg they will probably try to justify their own crap.....as usual. I hear they are in a spot of bother over the Funny Business on page 22 of the same Document they presented to the Dáil where they had to add Line Rental to bump Ireland out of the Top Position in Europe for DSL costs.

God its a shame, we were top of a DSL chart in Europe for once and then Comreg introduced some small print to nudge us into second.

M

acid

RTE just ran a piece on the 6 o clock news about this. Internet use has doubled in 5 years, is growing at an astonishing pace and we are now an "online society" or some such crap.
They didn't even take the time to look a little deeper into the CSO figures, or to compare them with our European neighbours. Infuriating............:mad:
time to fire off an email to newsdesk@rte.ie

Ripwave

Originally posted by Muck
Where do Comreg get their Quarterly survey figures from, they consistently say that 40% actually HAVE HOME INTERNET ACCESS as on page 27 of this Spiel in the Dáil . Now we find out that only 38% have ever used the Internet, I think usage is a good barometer of access , personally.

That's 40% of adults in "fixed line households". It's only 34% of all respondents. (Down to 32% in the most recent data point). How many parents have never used the internet, even though their kids use it at home? It's not a facetious question - Comregs figure is already lower than the CSO figure.

There's no point of castigating other people for using misleading statistics if you do it yourself, Muck.

seamus

Disappointing figures tbh. 5 years is far too long for such a survey. The Internet as we know it now has only been around 10 years ffs.

Such growth figures are quite bad actually.

If you look at the home computer ownership figures, there was more growth in 2 years between 98 - 2000 then 3 years 2000 - 2003. The same goes for the number of households with an internet connection (15% growth between 98-00, 13% growth between 00-03).

You know there's something also seriously wrong either with the questions they're asking, or they wording in the report when they say; about 60% of people aged 16 to 34 have ever used a computer. This means one of two things - 40% of young Irish people live in the dark ages, or the CSO like to use the word 'computer' when talking only about PCs.

In this day and age, figures of under 50% for both having ever (EVER, WTF?) used a computer, or having ever used the net, are way too low, and very disappointing.

Eurorunner

As has been the tradition, this bad news was presented to the irish populace as 'good' news :mad:

Very little chance of the general public developing a sense of outrage with regard to this whole issue - and demanding action - when they're being fed on 'spin' and think we are an 'online society'...or whatever the latest spindoctors buzzword/phrase may be..

spongebob

Originally posted by Ripwave
That's 40% of adults in "fixed line households". It's only 34% of all respondents. (Down to 32% in the most recent data point). How many parents have never used the internet, even though their kids use it at home? It's not a facetious question - Comregs figure is already lower than the CSO figure.

There's no point of castigating other people for using misleading statistics if you do it yourself, Muck.

Sorry Ripwave. Let us look at the concept of use . Lets say that 2 rattles on the Ryanair site every year constitute Current Internet Use.

Comreg maintain that 1.108 Million people USE the Internet , the 40% figure in the June survey has dropped to 38% in the september one. The 1.108m figure is on page Page 9 of this [URL=p://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg03108c.pdf]Quarterly Survey[/URL] under the heading % of Adults in Ireland Currently using the Internet from any location.

The CSO maintain that 1.094 Million (LESS) have EVER used the Internet in their lives . Thats on Page 9 of the CSO Survey Here

Comregs CURRENT Use figure is higher than the CSO LIFETIME use figure by 14,000 or so.

The rate of not stated in the CSO survey is suspiciously high though. The CSO figure does not include 0-16 Year olds while the Comreg figures do not include 0-18 year olds. That would widen the gap betwen CSO stats and Comreg stats whe the missing 16-18 years olds are taken into account.. Comreg figures indicate that 8% of Adults do not know how they connect to the Internet from home [URL=p://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg03108c.pdf]Page 14[/URL] WTF.

I suspect that Comregs consultants would have left out incomplete questionnaires while the CSO includes them. It is odd that the highest rate of those not stating whether they have ever used a Computer or the Internet is in Dublin.......35% as against a national average of 21%.

Therefore the surveys are not like with like and not worth our falling out over ....are they Ripwave ? Damn Statistics.

M

vinnyfitz

Originally posted by seamus
Disappointing figures tbh. 5 years is far too long for such a survey.

They say they are going to include it in the household survey every year from now on which is good.

In the spring they will also be releasing the 2002 census figures on internet connectivity and PCs in the home broken down by local electoral area.