Given that almost everyone I know is engulfed in holiday fever/spirit/terror/bliss (take your pick), I figure only the true tech aficionados are browsing the web for news stories right now. I want to reward this genuine devotion, which is why I’ve chosen today to blog about a truly great news item: Swedish citizens use the internet. A lot! No need to thank me, I’m in a generous mood.
But in all seriousness, this survey conducted by Statistics Sweden is interesting, especially if you are the type of person (like me) who tends to think about internet usage domestically and not always with a global mindset. Before you click on the link above, I have to warn you that most of the report is in Swedish. And based on the fact that my multilingual abilities peaked around the time I recognized Bono counting out of order in that iPod commercial, I’ll assume that you all need directing to the English translation of the survey as well. It begins on page 239 of the report (although it actually reads page 241 in the Adobe Reader tool bar). Either way, scroll towards the end of the linked document and you’ll see what I am talking about.
It appears that internet usage actually declined in Sweden between 2006 and 2007 (from 84 percent of the population to 80 percent). This statistic is surprising, mainly because the internet has only become more pervasive in the majority of places as time has gone on. (Insert doubts about the accuracy of this survey here.)
Nordic countries tend to dominate technologically in the EU. Iceland boasts an internet usage rate of over 80 percent, with citizens using the service at least once a week. Norway maintains its usage at an even 80 percent, while 75 percent of the citizens in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden report that they use the internet for various purposes. When you think of countries that are at the forefront of technology use, I am not sure that the Nordic region is the first area that comes to mind, so these figures are beneficial to know.
Despite Sweden’s recent dip in internet usage, citizens who already use the service have increased the frequency with which they access it. Almost all Swedish citizens own a mobile phone as well, while close to 90 percent have PCs in their homes. The internet is most popular among 16 to 44 year olds, with over 90 percent of this age group using the service. The subsection of the population aged 65 to 74 has the least usage (only 40 percent of this group use the internet).
The popularity of broadband usage has skyrocketed in Sweden over the past few years. In 2005, 44 percent of the country’s internet users opted for the faster connection method. In 2007, over 70 percent used broadband connections. The most common reasons that Swedish citizens used the internet were to: research information on goods and services, send and receive emails, complete banking transactions, make online purchases, obtain public information, and take advantage of peer-to-peer file sharing.
According to the survey, about one-third of the internet users in Sweden are involved with e-commerce. These people used the internet to make travel and hotel reservations and to purchase clothes, sporting goods, movies, music, books, and newspapers. Sweden places sixth among other European countries involved in the survey in terms of how many of their citizens order goods and services over the internet. Norway snagged the top spot in the survey, with 48 percent of their population choosing to shop online.
So what does this all mean? I’m not exactly sure, but I do find it interesting that countries such as Sweden, Iceland, and Norway are so technologically aware and active. I tend to assess the technological identity of a country by the strength of its tech community, even though that is such a small part of the population. Maybe it’s more about real people, in unrelated fields, coming together because of one common medium; maybe that equates to technological maturity.
And on that note, I think I’ve gone a little too deep for my own taste. I promise to veer away from less than insightful philosophies about the state of the internet in the future. That’s not why you come here anyways. It’s for my sarcastic wit and stellar jokes, isn’t it? Ahh yes, that’s what I thought.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 and is filed under Tech issues, The odd stuff, ecommerce.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
