Overall Access

It is now a truism to say that the market penetration rate of the Internet was phenomenal since its emergence in the early 1990’s. At the beginning of the past decade, our research shows that only a slim minority of Canadians knew what Internet meant. Twelve years later, almost all Canadians are familiar with the term and more than 60 per cent are considered on-line users (39 per cent in 1998 and 51 per cent in 1999) according to our definition.

An Internet user is defined as someone who has had access to the Internet in the past three months. The points of access recognize a number of locations and modes including, but not limited to, in the home, at work, at school, and at a public access point.

While Internet usage was characterized by phenomenal growth throughout the 1990s, there are signs that the growth in overall Internet usage has been relatively flat in the past two years. Between the summer of 1998 and the fall of 1999, the proportion of Canadians who reported recent Internet usage increased from 38 per cent to 59 per cent. Over the next 18 months, usage remained virtually flat, until it rose sharply to 69 per cent in the spring of 2001. Since then, the Internet usage has remained just under 70 per cent, 68 per cent in October/November 2001. Most recently, Internet usage reached 72 per cent in January 2002 [Figure 1].

Figure 1 - Recent Internet Usage

Q: In the past 3 months, have you used the Internet, either at home or elsewhere?

{Base: All Canadians}