Irish Internet Penetration Rate Half That Of Sweden

Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

23 March 2001

A survey carried out by the Irish Central Statistics Office on the penetration of PC's and the Internet into Irish households shows that despite a substantial rise, Ireland lags behind some parts of the EU.

The number of Irish households with access to the Web increased by more than 400 percent between 1998 and 2000. The results of the Central Statistics Office's latest survey found that 262,700 Irish homes had a computer connected to the Internet by the end of 2000, up from 61,100 in 1998. This translates to a home Internet penetration rate of 20.4 percent for the country. This compares with Sweden which has an Internet penetration rate of more than 40% - the highest in the world.

Although the PC is not the only type of Internet access device available in Ireland, other types of Internet connection are much less common. Less than 16,000 people access the Web via television, 26,300 use WAP services, while 5,000 connect to the Web through a games console.

Other findings of the survey showed that almost a third of the country, or 417,000 households, now have a computer. Irish families use their home computers primarily for education and leisure.

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