A Nation Online : How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet.

This report provides information on Americans' connectivity to the Internet, broadband services, and computers. Findings are based on the September 2001 U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey--a survey of approximately 57,000 households and more than 137,000 individuals across the United States. The report shows the rapidly growing use of new information technologies across all demographic groups and geographic regions. Not only are many more Americans using the Internet and computers at home, they are also using them at work, school, and other locations for an expanding variety of purposes. The rate of growth of Internet use in the United States is currently two million new users per month. More than half of the nation is now online. In September 2001, 143 million Americans (about 54% of the population) were using the Internet--an increase of 26 million in 13 months. In September 2001, 174 million people (66% of the population) in the United States used computers. Children and teenagers use computers and the Internet more than any other group. Family households with children under the age of 18 are more likely to access the Internet (62%) than family households with no children (53%), and non-family households (35%). Computers at schools substantially narrow the gap in computer usage rates for children from high and low income families. Internet use is increasing for people regardless of income, education, age, races, ethnicity, or gender. While 80% of Americans access the Internet through dial-up service, residential use of broadband service is rapidly increasing. Forty-five percent of the population now uses e-mail, up from 35% in 2000. Approximately one-third of Americans use the Internet to search for product and service information (36%, up from 26% in 2000). Use of the Internet and computers at work has contributed to higher use levels at home. (AEF)

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