429 Million People Worldwide Have Internet Access, According to Nielsen//NetRatings - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

ISP Business, June, 2001

Nielsen//NetRatings released its First Quarter 2001 Internet Trends report on Internet access and penetration, finding that 429 million people have Internet access around the world.

The report measures 27 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

The first quarter results showed that the US and Canada still account for the largest proportion of the world's Internet access, with 41 percent of the global audience located in those countries. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have the second highest proportion of access, with 27 percent of the world's Internet population, followed by Asia Pacific with 20 percent, and trailed by Latin America with four percent.

"In terms of penetration levels, just over a quarter of European households have Internet access via a home PC, compared to one third of the households in Asia Pacific and nearly half of America households," said Richard Goosey, chief of measurement science and analytics at ACNielsen eRatings.com. "Don't expect this American domination to last long, though. Compared to a year ago, significantly more households in Europe and Asia Pacific now have a PC in the home and a greater proportion of homes are making use of that PC to connect to the Internet. Over the next 12 months, another nine percent of European households and 12 percent of Asia-Pacific households plan on acquiring Internet access."

Goosey also noted that Germany and the UK continue to dominate Europe in terms of Internet access, with Germany, the UK, Italy, and France together accounting for two-thirds of the European households with Internet access via home PC. In the first quarter of 2001, Germany recorded the greatest increase in terms of number of households with home Internet access. The three European countries - Germany, The UK, and Italy - with the highest number of people with home Internet access together account for half the total European Internet population.

In Asia Pacific, South Korea dominates in terms of the number of households with home Internet access, alone accounting for 45 percent of the number of households with home-PC access in that region. Together, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia account for 86 percent of the total number of people with home PC Internet access in that region.

The findings are from the Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Trends service, a quarterly subscription service reporting key Internet statistics and attitudes drawn from more than 40,000 surveys conducted between January and March 2001 using consistent research methodology. The first quarter report covers: Austria, Belgium/Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, as well as select measures for the US, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and Israel.

In both Europe and Asia Pacific, home access is a more common source of Internet access than work-based access. Even for those who do have Internet access at work, home is more likely to be the location of use on the Internet.

"Generally, home access and use of the Internet is more firmly entrenched in the four Asian countries of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan than in the Pacific countries of Australia and New Zealand, where work-based usage is more commonly observed than in the Asian countries," Goosey said.

"In Europe, home access is particularly dominant in the Netherlands and Italy, where home access rates are at least double the work access rates. In most countries, the home access rate has increased since the end of 2000, while work access rates tend to be much more stable. Clearly use of the Internet at work - or elsewhere - is not the cultural norm yet in these regions, which could impact the growth of business-to-business commerce ventures in Europe and Asia Pacific."

Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Trends measures more than 30 factors, including the number of total households and people with Internet access at home or other locations; the demographics breakdown of the home Internet population; home PC ownership; rates of use of home PCs for connection to the Internet; the period of time when Internet access was acquired in a household or is expected; the number of fixed and mobile telephones per household and the level of on-line purchasing.

Through strategic partnerships NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research and ACNielson, the Nielsen//NetRatings audience measurement service collects real-time data from more than 225,000 individuals with access to the Internet around the world. The US panel sample currently consists of 62,000 individuals with Internet access at home and 8,000 individuals with Internet access at work. International panels are under development with over 155,000 individuals with access at home currently being measured in 26 countries, representing over 90 percent of global Internet browser activity.

Nielsen//NetRatings uses unique technology capable of measuring both Internet use and advertising to provide the most timely, accurate, and comprehensive Internet usage data and advertising information in the global marketplace. Nielsen//NetRatings tracks the entire spectrum of Internet user behavior, leveraging proprietary data-collection technology from NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research's 50 years of expertise in research and audience measurement, and ACNielsen's international leadership in offering market research information covering more than 100 countries.