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Press Release 10/26/2015

INFORMATION SOCIETY SURVEY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY - FAMILIES 2015

Seven out of ten people aged 15 and over in the Basque Country in 2015 are internet users

One out of three people make online purchases

The number of Internet users aged 15 and over in the Basque Country stood at 1,321,400 in the first quarter of 2015, 71.7% of the overall Basque population in this age group, according to data prepared by Eustat. Compared to the same period in the previous year this percentage was up 3.8 percentage points.

Álava was the province where the percentage of internet users grew the most (4.6 percentage points), occupying first place in the Basque Country with 73.6% of users. 71.9% of the population of Gipuzkoa are internet users, after seeing an increase of 4.2 points compared with the same period of the previous year. Bizkaia, for its part, came in last place, with 71.1% of its population aged over 15 being internet users, following a rise of 3.4 points.

Regarding the three Basque capitals, Vitoria-Gasteiz, with 74.4% of individuals aged 15 and over who were Internet users, stood in first place, followed by Donostia-San Sebastián, with a percentage of 71.5%, whilst Bilbao was in third position, with 70.5% of the population connected to the Internet.

At the regional level, Plentzia-Mungia (76%) in Bizkaia, Bajo Bidasoa (75%) in Gipuzkoa and Estribaciones del Gorbea (74.7%) in Álava were the areas with the greatest percentage of population who used the Internet in each of the three provinces.

On the other hand, Bajo Deba (69.3%) in Gipuzkoa, Encartaciones (67.3%) in Bizkaia, and Montaña Alavesa (63.5%) in Álava were the regions that registered the lowest percentages of Internet users in their respective provinces.

In terms of age, practically the whole of the population of young people in the Basque Country between the ages of 15 and 24 (99,1%) were Internet users. The increase of 9.2 percentage points in users in the 55-64 age group is worthy of a mention, followed by that for individuals aged 65 and over, which rose by 4.5 points.

The gender gap amongst the population that use the Internet increased slightly

The so-called gender gap, which in 2014 stood at 7.6 percentage points, increased to 8.3 points in the first quarter of 2015. Thus, with respect to the population aged 15 and over, male Internet users represented 76% of the male population, whereas female users accounted for 67.7% of the female population. Of the total number of individuals using the Internet in 2012, 51.2% were men compared to 48.8% of women.

In relation to activity, 98.7% of the student population were Internet users, whereas amongst the population in work this figure stood at 91.8%, and amongst inactive and unemployed individuals it stood at 42.5%. The latter group saw the largest increase, of 3.6 percentage points, compared to 2014.

The preferred location for accessing the Internet continued to be the private home, with 96.3% of users connecting from their houses. Internet access from study centres saw a slight decline of 0.1 points. However, access from the workplace rose by 5.8 points, compared to the first quarter of 2014 in all cases.

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

The percentage of individuals using the Internet who made online purchases experienced an increase of 8.2 percentage points in 2015 compared to 2014. Whilst in the first quarter of 2015, 49.9% of the population who use the Internet made a purchase online, in 2014 this figure stood at 41.7% of web users. This means that 35% of the population aged 15 and over has made some kind of purchase over the internet.

The presence of ICT equipment continues to increase in Basque households

The presence of Information and Communication Technology continues to grow throughout Basque households. In the first quarter of 2015, there were computers in 70.6% of households in the Basque Country, which accounts for 78.5% of the population aged 15 and over.

As regards Internet access, nearly 607,000 families, or 70.2%, had this service in their homes, with 37,000 new families (3.8 points) connected to the Internet compared to 2014. In turn, the population aged 15 and over with Internet access was up by 59,600 (3.5 points) since the first quarter of 2014, and stood at 78%.

For its part, the mobile telephone was present in 93.4% of households. If we refer to the population aged 15 and over, the percentage with a mobile telephone rises to 95.9%.