Press releases and reports - Dynamics of the Internet usage in Ukraine: February

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Press releases and reports

Dynamics of the Internet usage in Ukraine: February – March, 2016

Press release by Natalia Kharchenko

As of the beginning of the year, 62% of adult population of Ukraine use the Internet. The partition of the Internet users amongst the population of Ukraine aged 18-39 is 91%. Senior age and living in rural areas significantly reduces the likelihood of using the Internet.

In February, 2016 Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted all-Ukrainian survey on the Internet usage by the adult population in Ukraine. People were surveyed using the method of personal interviewing in the place of living, 2020 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except of Crimea and territories that are not controlled by Ukraine at the moment) were polled. Sample is stochastic and representative for the population of Ukraine aged 18 and above. Statistical sample error (with probability 0.95 and design effect of 1.5) does not exceed: 3.3% - for indicators close to 50%, 2.8% - for indicators close to 25%, 2.0% - for indicators close to 10%, 1.4% - for indicators close to 5%.

Regional indicators are presented according to the data of large-scale all-Ukrainian public opinion poll about the corruption in Ukraine that was conducted in September – October of 2015. Sample size is 10 170. Sample is representative for the population of Ukraine aged 18 and above as well as for the population of each region of Ukraine. Sample was stochastic and multi-staged with quota selection on the last stage.

In February, 2016 61.6% of the adult population of Ukraine used the Internet (graph 1). The amount of the Internet users keeps on growing faster than it was expected^[1]. The growth rate during February 2015-February 2016 amounted to 8%. It is more correct to make prolonged comparison staring with the data of 2014 since the contours of the country has changed. Despite all the turmoils in the country, the Internet usage grows steadily: only in the period of February, 2014 – February, 2016 the amount of the Internet users has grown by 7 percentage points, while the growth rate was 13%.

Graph 1. The share of Internet users among the adult population of Ukraine

The process of spreading of the Internet in Ukraine is somewhat slower comparing to the one in the majority of developed countries of Western Europe and of North America[1].

Main determinants of the differences in the Internet spread in Ukraine remain unchanged, they are age and the type of settlement. As before, there is a linear inverse relationship between the age and the Internet usage (graph 2). The lower is the age, the higher is the rate of the Internet spread. Over the past two years, all age groups younger than 60 years are characterized by the growing Internet using.

Graph 2. The share of Internet users among different age groups

Over the recent years, disparities of the Internet spread in towns of various sizes (graph 3) were smoothednoticeably. As for now, rural territories are far behind in the process of the Internet spread. Residents of rural territories more often refer to technical limitations in connectivity of sparsely populated areas.

Graph 3. The share of Internet users among the inhabitants of settlements of various types

The Internet usage varies significantly from region to region. The biggest share of the households with home connection is in Kyiv (78%), while it is almost 2.5 times smaller in Kirovohrad region (see graph 4).

Graph 4. The share of Internet users who have the Internet connection at home

ThecommentaryofV.Paniotto

In the cited statistics (http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users-by-country/) the indicator is the percentage of those who have the Internet connection at home in relation to the total population of the country. The indicator of Ukraine is 44% what places the country on the 112 position amongst 201 countries, but our data evidence that the information of this source is outdated as it corresponds to the beginning of 2015. Considering the proper data (recounting shows that in Ukraine the percentage of those who have the Internet connection at home in relation to the total population of the country is 50%) Ukraine occupies 99^th position in the list what is more or less in its middle but still far from not only European countries but also from Russia (in case the data are correct). Following table shows data for some of the countries from the list.

Spread of the Internet in some of the countries in 2016

N	Country	Percentage of users	N	Country	Percentage of users
1	Iceland	100	16	Italy	66
2	Norway	98	17	Greece	65
3	Denmark	96	18	Albania	63
4	United Kingdom	93	19	Azerbaijan	61
5	Estonia	91	20	Belarus	61
6	Japan	91	21	Kazakhstan	56
7	USA	89	22	China	52
8	Germany	88	23	Uzbekistan	51
9	France	86	24	Ukraine	50
10	Lithuania	77	25	Armenia	49
11	Latvia	76	26	Moldova	48
12	ІIsrael	73	27	Nigeria	46
13	Poland	72	28	Mongolia	36
14	Russia	71	29	India	35
15	Portugal	67	30	Kyrgyzstan	34

Also it should be noted that spread of the Internet produces another kind of social differentiation (and, possibly, informational discrimination) in Ukraine: rural residents, people with low income and older age groups use the Internet on a much more smaller scale than other social groups.

Addition. Questions and tables

Do you use the Internet at your home?
Yes	59,5
No	39,6
Do not know what is that	,8
No answer	,1
Total	100,0

Do you use the Internet outside your home? (in other places)
Yes	34,8
No	63,3
No answer	1,9
Total	100,0

Use the Internet at home or elsewhere (counting)
Yes	61,6
Other answer	38,4
Total	100,0

Socio-demographic questions		The Internet usage
Socio-demographic questions		Not use	Use	Total
Gender	male	31,7%	68,3%	100%
Gender	female	43,9%	56,1%	100%
Age	18-29	7,3%	92,7%	100%
	30-39	11,3%	88,7%	100%
	40-49	22,3%	77,7%	100%
	50-59	51,3%	48,7%	100%
	60-69	73,8%	26,2%	100%
	70 and above	93,1%	6,9%	100%
Type and size of the settlement:	Village	53,9%	46,1%	100%
	Urban village	33,6%	66,4%	100%
	Small town (up to 20k inhabitants)	33,9%	66,1%	100%
	Medium sized town (20-49k)	33,1%	66,9%	100%
	City with the population of 50-99k	23,1%	76,9%	100%
	Big city (100-499k)	31,9%	68,1%	100%
	Very big city (more than 500k)	30,2%	69,8%	100%
Take a look at the card, please, and tell which of the statements describes the financial situation in your family in the most precise way?	We do not have money even for food	69,2%	30,8%	100%
	We have enough money for food but buying clothes is difficult	41,9%	58,1%	100%
	We have enough money for food and clothes, also we can save some money, but it is not enough for buying expensive things (like TV set or fridge)	19,4%	80,6%	100%
	We can afford buying expensive things (like TV set or fridge)	9,7%	90,3%	100%
	Difficult to say	27,7%	72,3%	100%

Do you have the Internet connection of any type at home?

Yes	1
No, not right now but we plan to establish it in the upcoming 6 months	2
No, and we do not plan to establish it in the upcoming 6 months	3

Oblast` (region)	Do you have the Internet connection of any type at home?
Oblast` (region)	Yes	No, not right now but we plan to establish it in the upcoming 6 months	No, and we do not plan to establish it in the upcoming 6 months	Total
Kyiv city	77,8%	1,5%	20,7%	100,0%
Kyivs`ka	55,3%	2,3%	42,5%	100,0%
Vinnyts`ka	44,6%	2,7%	52,7%	100,0%
Volyns`ka	46,0%	5,0%	49,0%	100,0%
Dnipropetrovs`ka	58,1%	5,5%	36,3%	100,0%
Donets`ka	61,9%	1,5%	36,6%	100,0%
Zhytomyrs`ka	45,0%	4,7%	50,2%	100,0%
Zakarpats`ka	63,5%	3,0%	33,6%	100,0%
Zaporiz`ka	50,0%	4,0%	46,0%	100,0%
Ivano-Frankivs`ka	62,1%	1,7%	36,2%	100,0%
Kirovohrads`ka	31,3%	1,2%	67,5%	100,0%
Luhans`ka	59,9%	1,7%	38,4%	100,0%
Lvivs`ka	63,0%	2,7%	34,3%	100,0%
Mykolaivs`ka	45,2%	4,7%	50,1%	100,0%
Odes`ka	52,8%	3,7%	43,5%	100,0%
Poltavs`ka	49,0%	1,3%	49,7%	100,0%
Rivnens`ka	50,4%	2,9%	46,7%	100,0%
Sums`ka	53,2%	7,2%	39,6%	100,0%
Ternopils`ka	62,3%	2,5%	35,2%	100,0%
Kharkivs`ka	47,0%	3,7%	49,3%	100,0%
Khersons`ka	45,9%	7,4%	46,7%	100,0%
Khmelnyts`ka	44,9%	7,7%	47,4%	100,0%
Cherkas`ka	51,7%	7,0%	41,3%	100,0%
Chernivets`ka	60,3%	6,2%	33,5%	100,0%
Chernihivs`ka	42,2%	4,4%	53,3%	100,0%