Household Net access climbs 75% in 3 years

An estimated 458,700 households had computers with Internet access in June of this year, reflecting an increase of almost 75 per cent since November 2000.

However, the number of households connected to the Internet has slowed dramatically over the past three years, according to figures released this morning from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Although the rate of increase in  Internet access is steady, it is significantly less dramatic than the rate of increase in the two year period between 1998 and 2000 during which Internet access in Irish homes more than quadrupled.

Over the same period the number of households with home computers increased by 38.3 per cent from 416,900 to 576,500.

The national average for Internet access via PC stands at 33.6 per cent.

In June 2003, just over 42 per cent of households had a home computer, compared to 32.4 per cent and 18.6 per cent in September-November 2000 and June-August 1998, respectively.

Just under 80 per cent of households that had a home computer also had an Internet connection, which is an increase of nearly 17 per cent from 2000 and up from just 26.7 per cent in 1998.

Internet access on home computers was highest in Dublin (41.9 per cent) and the Mid-East (40.2 per cent) and lowest in the Midlands (24.1 per cent) and the West (26.3 per cent).