Results for the first six months of 2024 show that more than nine in ten (95%) internet users in Ireland go online daily and of these, almost four in ten (39%) use it all the time or nearly all the time.
Almost all internet users surveyed, living in households with children, used the internet every day or almost every day.
All internet users aged 16 to 29 years, had gone online daily, and of these, almost all (97%) had used the internet at least several times a day.
Older people used the internet the least. Just over half (54%) of people aged 75 years and over had used the internet within the previous three months.
Students were the most frequent users of the internet in 2024. All students surveyed had used the internet daily, of which almost all (99%) had gone online at least several times a day.
The majority of households have internet access (94%), mainly fixed broadband (86%).
Household internet connectivity was highest for the Dublin region (97%), compared with the Border and Midland regions (91%). Of the households in Dublin with internet access, nine in ten were via fixed broadband (90%), compared with 78% in the Border region.
This release is the first in a series of four which will be published during the month of October 2024, presenting the results of the annual Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Household Survey, which was carried out in the first two quarters of 2024.
The second release, Household Digital Consumer Behaviour 2024, will cover individuals’ use of e-commerce including internet activities, purchases of goods and services online, e-learning, and use of e-Government. The third release, Smart Technology 2024, will focus on our use of internet-connected devices and systems, both inside and outside the home. The final release in the series, Sustainability of Personal ICT Devices 2024, will cover how we dispose of our ICT devices such as smartphones, laptops, etc. and what factors influence our decisions when buying new devices, including environmental considerations.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (01 October 2024) released Internet Coverage and Usage in Ireland 2024. This is the first in a series of releases presenting the results of the annual Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Household Survey, which was carried out in the first two quarters of 2024 (See Editor’s Note below for more details).
The data in this release is a subset of the broader data collected in the survey and covers household internet access and individuals’ frequency of internet usage.
Commenting on the results, Maureen Delamere, Statistician in the Social Analysis Division, said: “Our everyday lives are becoming far more digital, and in 2024, we were online more than ever and relying on technology and digital services.
At an overall level, results for the first six months of 2024 show that more than nine in ten (93%) people aged 16 years and over were recent users of the internet (had used it within the three months prior to survey), up one percentage point from 2023. Daily internet usage has similarly increased from when the survey was last carried out in 2023. Of recent internet users, 95% went online every day or almost every day, up one percentage point on the same period in 2023.
Just 6% of people aged 16 years and over had never used the internet, although this predominantly related to older people where 41% of those aged 75 and over had never used the internet.
Frequency of Use
As our lives have become more digital, we are accessing the internet more frequently on a daily basis. Of daily internet users, almost four in ten (39%) use it all the time or nearly all the time. In 2024, almost six in ten (58%) of younger people aged 16 to 29 years used the internet almost constantly: 18% used it all the time, while a further 40% used it nearly all the time.
Students were the most frequent users of the internet in 2024. All students used the internet every day or almost every day. Of these daily internet users, almost all (99%) went online at least several times a day: 33% used the internet several times a day, a further 41% of students used the internet nearly all the time, and one-quarter (25%) used the internet all the time.
Older people used the internet the least. Just over half (54%) of people aged 75 years and over had used the internet within the previous three months. Of these, three-quarters (75%) used the internet daily, with almost two-fifths (38%) of these daily internet users going online only briefly during the day.
Household Internet Connectivity
The vast majority (94%) of households have internet connectivity. Looking at internet access on a regional basis, household internet connectivity was highest for the Dublin region (97%), compared with the Border and Midland regions (91% of households). The Border region includes counties Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo, while the Midland region includes counties Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath.
Household internet access was mainly via fixed broadband access (86%), unchanged from 2023. Fixed broadband connection was highest in the Dublin region at 90% of households, compared with the Border region (78%).
Non-Internet Households
Of the 6% of households with no internet access, the most common reason given (56%) was that they did not need the internet, followed by lack of skills (23%). One in twenty (5%) of these households with no internet access stated that broadband internet was not available in their area.”