More than 90% of the population (94.4%) in Cyprus uses the internet at least once a week, a special survey conducted by the Statistical Office during the period April-June 2024 has shown. The results of the survey were released on Thursday.

According to the Service, the purpose of the survey, which, as noted, covered 1,838 households with at least one member aged 16-74 and a total of 3,763 people between those ages, was to collect data on the access to selected Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the use of the internet, use of e-government, e-commerce, internet of things and green ICT.

As stated, internet use decreases with age, starting from 99.9% for the 16-24 age group to 83.3% for the 55-74 age group, while persons with high educational attainment level use the internet more frequently (99.6%) than persons with low educational attainment level (76.8%)

It is added that most popular internet activities by individuals during the first quarter of 2024 were instant messaging via Skype, Messenger, WhatsApp and Viber (97.3%), making calls over the internet (97.2%), finding information about goods or services (94.3%), participating in social networks like Facebook and Twitter (91,8%) and watching video content from sharing services (91.3%).

In addition, 10.3% of those who used the internet in the first quarter of 2024 used online educational materials, 10% took an online course, and 9.7% communicated with educators or learners using audio or video online tools.

e-Government

According to the Statistical Service, during the period April 2023 to March 2024, 70.6% of individuals aged 16-74 years, obtained information from public authorities online, 54% accessed information stored about them by public authorities or public services and 22.8% accessed information from public databases or registers.

E-commerce

Similarly, the proportion of individuals aged 16-74 years old placing online orders during the first quarter of 2024 increased significantly to 63.6% compared to 55.3% in the corresponding period of 2023.

Most popular categories of goods/services ordered online were the following: clothes (including sport clothing), shoes or accessories (85,3%), deliveries or pick up from restaurants, fast-food chains (78,8%), computers, mobile phones or accessories (53,4%) and cosmetics, beauty or wellness products (33,4%).

It is added that among the people who bought or ordered goods or services for private use in the first quarter of 2024, 46.5% bought accommodation services, 45.5% bought transport services and 33.2% bought tickets to events.