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U.S. Says Web Use Has Risen to 54% Of the Population
The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON -- Internet use continued to grow rapidly last year, with new government data showing that the number of Americans using the Web in 2001 passed 50% of the population for the first time.
The Commerce Department report, set for release tomorrow, found that 143 million Americans, or 54% of the country, were using the Internet as of September. The number was up 26% from a year earlier.
The government numbers are slightly higher than many private-sector estimates. Nielsen/NetRatings, for instance, estimated that Internet usage hit 115.2 million in October, up 15% from a year earlier.
Despite concerns that interest in Internet usage might cool as many dot-com businesses vanished, the government report put new users at two million per month in 2001. E-mail continues to be the nation's favorite online activity, and 45% of the population now uses it regularly, up from 35% in 2000.
The report found 174 million Americans, or 66% of the population, were using computers as of September, with those numbers substantially higher among children and teenagers. The data show that 48 million Americans between the ages of five and 17, 90% of that population, use computers.
The report also showed a narrowing of the so-called digital divide separating wealthy, urban Americans from poor ones, minorities, and those living in rural areas. Many sociologists argue that the ability to use computers and the Internet is fast becoming a prerequisite for a broad array of jobs. Half of the new jobs that employ workers without college degrees require daily use of computers, often including use of the Internet, and the income gap between those who use computers on the job and those who don't continues to widen.
The report found that while a digital divide endures, it is beginning to narrow. Between December 1998 and September 2001, Internet use by the nation's poorest citizens -- those earning less than $15,000 per household -- increased at an annual rate of 25%. Web usage by the richest Americans -- those earning more than $75,000 a year per household -- by comparison, rose at an annual rate of just 11% during that same period, though it was starting from a higher level.
Between August 2000 and September 2001, Web use among blacks and Hispanics soared at annual rates of 33% and 30%, respectively. Annual growth rates for whites and Asian-Americans going online for the first time were 20% during that period.
During the 1998-to-2001 period, Web usage by those living in rural areas rose at an annual rate of 24%, and 53% of rural Americans are now online, just shy of the national average of 54%.
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