Table 4:
Barriers to access and Internet usage4
OVERALL Cost Interest Need
1997 27% 30% 43%
1999 42% 33% 25%
2000 38% 30% 32%
2001 28% 40% 31%

INTERNET USERS
1997 50% 20% 30%
1999 60% 12% 28%
2000 60% 11% 29%
2001 59% 14% 27%

NON-USERS
1997 23% 32% 45%
1998 37% 38% 25%
2000 32% 36% 33%
2001 20% 48% 33%
Percentages may not equal 100 per cent due to rounding<

Table 5 shows that cost remains the most important barrier to access for youth, increasing from 51 per cent in 1997 to 56 per cent in 1999, rising further to 59 per cent in 2000 and to 60 per cent in 2001. It is worthwhile mentioning that cost concerns decreases substantially with age. Among the pre-retirement and the retired cohorts, significantly fewer identify cost as a barrier to access (approximately one in four). This trend has been stable over the last four years.

While cost is less of a concern among older Canadians, technological literacy and perceived need remain strong barriers to Internet access, virtually unchanged since 1997. Overall, the survey results indicate that seniors are more likely to identify “interest” rather than “need” as a barrier to access. These most recent results show a remarkable shift since 1997, when “need” outnumbered “interest” by a margin of 16 percentage points for seniors.

4 The results of this table includes only the respondents who indicated cost, lack of interest or lack of need to the open-ended question: "what is the main reason why you do not have access to the Internet from home?" These three categories have been identified as the most important barriers to home Internet access.