Two thirds of the population aged 15 and over are Internet users

The number of Internet users aged 15 and over in the Basque Country stood at 1,242,200 in the first quarter of 2013, 65.8% of the overall Basque population in this age group, according to data prepared by Eustat. With regards to the previous year this percentage increased by 8.2 percentage points.

By province, Álava and Bizkaia registered the greatest increase in the percentage of users, standing at 9.7 percentage points in both cases, compared to the previous year. Álava, then, headed the list for Internet users in the Basque Country with 68.2%; Bizkaia, despite the notable increases recorded, continued in third place, with a percentage of 65.2% of the population aged 15 and over who were Internet users; Gipuzkoa, which posted an increase of 5 points, had a percentage of 65.7% Internet users in the first three months of this year, and was situated in second place.

In terms of age, practically the whole of the population of young people in the Basque Country between the ages of 15 and 24 (98.6%) were Internet users. The increase in users in the 55-64 age group, estimated at 13.5 percentage point is worthy of a mention, and similar to that for individuals aged between 45 and 54 (+13.3 points). The population within the youngest age groups registered significant increases compared to the previous year.

The gender gap has become more pronounced amongst Internet users

The so-called gender gap, which in 2012 stood at 7.9 percentage points, increased to 9.7 points in the first quarter of 2013. Thus, 70.8% of the male population aged 15 and over were Internet users, whilst 61.1% of the female population of the same age group used the Internet. Out the total number of Internet users for the year in progress, 52.2% were men and 47.8% were women.

In relation to activity, 98.4% of the student population were Internet users, whereas amongst the population in work this figure stood at 85.7%, and amongst inactive and unemployed individuals it stood at 38.0%. The greatest increase with respect to 2012 was between the inactive and unemployed population (9.3 percentage points); in the case of the employed population, the increase in Internet users stood at 7.7 points; lastly, the student population using the Internet increased by 0.5 points.

The preferred location for accessing the Internet continued to be the private home, with 91.6% of users connecting from their houses, despite this percentage dropping by one point with regards to the previous year. Internet connections from other locations, such as cybercafés, hotels, leisure spaces, etc., were the only ones to see a significant percentage rise (10.9 points). However, Internet connections from study and work centres have hardly varied over the last year.

The average connection time in 2013 stood at 56.3 minutes, an increase of 10 minutes on the previous year.

There was an increase in the number of Internet users purchasing products or services online

The percentage of Internet users who have made a purchase via this medium experienced a rise of 6.9 percentage points in 2013 compared to 2012. In the first quarter of 2013 38.9% of the population who use the Internet made a purchase online, whereas in 2012 this figure stood at just 32.0% of web users.

The presence of Communication and Information Technology continues to grow throughout Basque households. In the first quarter of 2013, there were computers in 66.9% of households in the Basque Country, 3.7 percentage points up on the first quarter of 2012. The population aged 15 and over with a computer at home stood at 75.6%.

As regards Internet access, just over 545,000 families, 62.9% of the total, had this service in their homes, with 44,900 new families (4.5 points) connected to the Internet compared to the same period of 2012. In turn, the population aged 15 and over with Internet access was up by 86,200 (4.6 points) since the first quarter of 2012, and stood at 71.5%.

For its part, the mobile telephone was present in 92.4% of households. If we refer to the population aged 15 and over, the percentage with a mobile telephone rises to 95.6%, which is an increase of 11,400 individuals.