MAIN FINDINGS
This section presents the main findings from the 2010-11 Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS) and the 2009 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC).
SUMMARY INDICATORS
Key indicators of household use of Information Technology (IT) include: internet access, broadband access and access to a home computer.
Household internet and broadband access
The percentage of Australian households with access to the internet at home has continued to increase, from 64% in 2006-07 to 79% in 2010-11.
Household access to internet and broadband at home, 2006-07 to 2010-11
There were an estimated
6.2 million households with a broadband internet connection in 2010-11. Broadband is accessed by nearly three-quarters (73%) of all households in Australia, and 92% of all households with internet access.
Household computer access
In 2010-11, 83% of households had access to a computer at home. Since 2006-07, household computer access has increased by 10 percentage points.
Household access to a computer at home, 2006-07 to 2010-11
OTHER FINDINGS
Other findings for household use of IT from the 2010-11 MPHS were:
- Most households (77%) with the internet were using it every day. A further 20% of households were using the internet at least weekly.
- The most common types of broadband connections were: DSL (used by 62% of households with broadband internet access); mobile broadband (16%); and cable (11%).
- The proportion of persons aged 15 years and over who had accessed the internet at any location in the previous 12 months was 79%, up from 74% in 2008-09.
- The proportion of persons aged 15 years and over who had accessed the internet at home in the previous 12 months was 75%.
- Of the 13.3 million people who reported accessing the internet at home, the top three reported activities were: Emailing (91%); Research, news and general browsing (87%); and Paying bills online or online banking (64%).
- Social networking and online gaming was performed by 88% of internet users in the 15-17 years age group and 86% of internet users in the 18-24 years age group.
- The proportion of internet users that purchased or ordered goods or services over the internet was 68%, up from 64% in 2008-09.
- Of the 15.3 million people who had access to a computer at home, 90% indicated they had anti-virus and firewall software and 13% indicated they had filtering software (it was possible to select more than one type of security measure).
Key findings from the 2009 SDAC were:
- Just over half (53%) of persons with a reported disability used the internet at any location in 2009, up from 39% in 2003.
- The proportion of persons aged 60 years and over who used the internet at any location almost doubled from 2003 (21%), rising to 41% in 2009.
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