CSO Statistics: 82% of us have internet at home

The number of Irish households with connection to the internet has increased substantially in recent years, according to figures published by the Central Statistics Office.

Some 82% of all households had access to the internet at home in the first quarter of 2014, compared to 63% in the first quarter of 2008.

Dublin recorded the highest percentage of internet access in the first quarter of 2014 at 88%.

In contrast 75% of households in the Border region indicated they had access in the same time period.

When it came to individuals use of the internet there was a stark contrast between younger and older people. In the first quarter of 2014 96% of 16-29-year-olds used the internet “in the last three months”.

However only 41% of 60-74-year-olds had been online during the same time period.

There was also a noticeable difference between the percentage of people who said they never used the internet with 53% of 60-74-year-olds saying they never went online compared to just 2% of 16-29-year-olds.

When it came to splashing out online it seems 30-44-year-olds are flashing the cash more than any other age group as they recorded the highest level of purchases online.

Travel arrangements (31%), tickets for events (30%), and holiday accommodation (29%) were the most popular types of internet purchases.

Email was the most popular activity online in the last three months with 85% of people using it. Social networking was in second place (63%) followed closely by internet banking (60%), using serviced related to travel or travel related accommodation (54%), reading or downloading news (46%), making video/voice calls over the internet (36%), and the selling of goods or services falling behind at just 14%.

When it came to how we use social media, 61% of Irish enterprises used some sort of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in 2014.

Although data for 2014 is only available for 25 of the 28 European Union countries, an EU-28 average has been calculated by Eurostat, which indicated that 36% of enterprises used some type of social media.

The primary method of using social media as a way of connecting with customers was the use of social networks, with 58% of Irish enterprises stating they used social networks such as Facebook.