Press Releases

Access in Information and Communication Technologies

During 2018, there has been a significant increase in internet access in households and reached 86,2% compared to 79,4% in 2017. (Table 1)

The percentage of households with access to personal computers reached 78,7% in 2018 compared to 75,9% in 2017. Τhe increase was observed in the percentage of households that own a laptop computer from 65,0% in 2017 to 68,5% in 2018. (Table 1)

The percentage of households without dependent children than own a computer increased from 68.5% in 2017 to 72.0% in 2018, while the percentage of households with dependent children that own a computer reached 93.3% in 2018. (Table 1)

Use of Internet

83,7% of persons aged 16-74 is using the internet at least once a week. Almost all persons aged 16 – 24 years old (99,3%) use the internet at least once a week. This percentage decreases with age, even though for individuals 65 – 74 years old the use of internet increased to 37,5% in 2018 compared to 33,9% in 2017. High educated persons (97,3%) use the internet more frequently than persons with lower education level (53,8%). (Chart 1)

During the first quarter of 2018, internet usage increased to 84,4% compared to 80,7% in  2017. (Table 2)

The most popular Internet activities are the following: finding information about goods and services (85,1%), participating in social networks (81.7%), watching video content from sharing services (80,8%), telephoning over the internet/video calls (via webcam) over the internet (74,4%) and seeking health-related information (67,1%). (Table 2)

87,5% of the persons that used the Internet in the first quarter of 2018, used their mobile phone or smart phone to access the Internet away from home or work while, 16,7% used a laptop and 11.5% used a  tablet. (Table 2)

e-Commerce

23,3% of persons aged 16 – 74 years old made online orders for goods and services in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 24,4% in 2017. (Chart 2)

The most popular categories of goods/services ordered online were the following: clothes or sports goods (56,3%), other travel arrangements such as transport tickets, car hire etc. (51,3%) and holiday accommodation (46,7%). (Table 3)

During the period April 2017-Mrch 2018, 82,9% of persons aged 16-74 that bought or ordered goods and services for private use prefer sellers from other EU countries, 35,8% prefer sellers from the rest of the world and 34,6% buy or order from sellers in Cyprus. The amount spent for goods or services over the internet was usually between 100-500 Euros. (Table 3)

Country of origin of sellers

Methodological notes 

Aim

The aim of the survey is to collect data on the access of households to selected Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the use of Internet, use of e-government, e-Commerce, Trust, Security and Privacy, ICT usage at work and digital skils.

Coverage

The survey was conducted during the period April – July 2018 and covered 1.902 households with at least one member aged 16 – 74 (inclusive) and 3.957 individuals aged 16 – 74 (inclusive).

The survey covers all the government controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus.

Sampling

The sampling frame used for the selection of the sample was the 2011 Population Census Frame, with reference date the 1st of October 2011. The sampling units are households. Auxiliary information for each household (district, municipality, quarter, address, number of persons, telephone numbers) is also included in the frame. The 2011 Census frame was updated in September 2014, with the domestic consumers of electricity that were connected after Census, obtained from the Electricity Authority of Cyprus. In September 2016, the domestic consumers of electricity that were connected in the period from September 2014 to September 2016 obtained from the Electricity Authority of Cyprus were added to the Frame of 2014..There is one-to-one correspondence between the domestic consumer of electricity and the statistical definition of households.The sampling frame was stratified into urban and rural strata by district.

The selection of the sample in urban areas is done by simple random sampling (one-stage sampling).

In rural areas, two-stage sampling is used. Villages are the primary sampling units, while households are the secondary sampling units. Neighbouring Villages with a small number of households are merged in order to create complexes with a minimum number of households. The sample of villages is selected with probability proportional to the size of the village (PPS). Some villages are large and therefore their probability of selection is equal to 1.  A simple random sample of households is selected from each village.

All individuals, aged 16-74, within each sampled household were selected.

Data Collection

The data collection was conducted through personal interviews with all individuals of household aged 16 -74 years. In case of absence of an individual, some other member that knew answered the questionnaire.

Reference Period

The data refers to first quarter of 2018, unless otherwise stated.

Definitions

e- Commerce: Use of e-commerce refers to the purchase of goods and services over the Internet for private use via any device.  Purchases refer to ordering goods or services for which payment is required but the payment does not have to be online. Orders via manually typed e-mails, SMS or MMS should be excluded.

Use of Internet: Internet use via any device: desktop, laptop, netbook, tablet, as well as smart phones, games consoles, e-book readers.

Further information

Antreas Charalambous: Tel:+35726804436, Email.: ancharalambous@cystat.mof.gov.cy

Constantinos Minas : Tel:+35722602112, Email.: cmina@cystat.mof.gov.cy

(AH)