Story: Digital media and the internet

Internet use by age and ethnicity, 2013

Internet use by age and ethnicity, 2013

These two graphs show internet use by different age groups and by ethnicity according to the World Internet Project survey of 2013. The index of usage measures the average frequency (using a scale from 0 for the minimum score to 5 for a maximum score) at which an individual does a range of 47 online activities, including playing games, visiting social networking sites, looking for information, checking emails, buying goods and paying bills. In general, from the age of 25 there is a steady decline in internet usage by age, with particularly marked drops when people are in their 40s and then after 65. Although the figure for those in their teens seems comparatively low, this is partly because they are unlikely to do some of the activities in the index of usage, such as paying bills online.  

The graph of usage by ethnicity shows that there is no longer a striking difference in internet use between ethnic groups, as was the case in the previous surveys of 2007, 2009 and 2011. However, the high level of use by Asian New Zealanders, and the comparatively lesser use by Pacific people among both younger and older populations, remains.

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Source: World Internet Project - AUT University

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How to cite this page:

Russell Brown, 'Digital media and the internet - New Zealanders’ use of the internet', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/graph/43388/internet-use-by-age-and-ethnicity-2013 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Russell Brown, published 22 Oct 2014