Using data collected from its national and local television panels, the quarterly Home Technology phone survey and the Nielsen Claritas 2008 Convergence Audit survey, the report provides a detailed look at how Americans are getting on the internet and the differences by various demographic breaks.

Key findings of the report include:

• Internet access is correlated with education level and a household’s combined annual income. As they increase, so does the likelihood of internet access.
• Internet access is lowest in Hispanic and African-American homes, as well as those where the head of household has not completed a high school education.
• Access is much lower in rural areas and in homes that receive only broadcast TV.
• Those using dial-up service tend be older, with more modest incomes and lower education levels than those using high-speed internet.
• The East South Central region (consisting of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky), had the highest number of households with no internet access – 26 percent.
• The top five markets with the highest percentage of homes with internet access are Washington, DC, Norfolk, Salt Lake City, Boston and Portland, OR.
• The five markets with the lowest percentages are Knoxville, Greenville, Albuquerque, Memphis and Tulsa.

“Our findings indicate that there remains opportunity for growth in internet access in the U.S.  Indeed, President Obama stated during the campaign that we had to view broadband internet access the same way we did telephone service and electricity – an essential utility available to all regardless of economic status,” said Steve McGowan, Senior Vice President, Insights and Client Research Initiatives at Nielsen.  “But part of the challenge in extending web access to all Americans is the fact that there are more homes without computers, than there are homes with computers but lacking internet access.”

To view the complete report, click here.

With double-digit growth across most categories measured, South Africans continued to take to the Internet in 2008, and the profile of those doing so is evolving.

Andrew Felbert, of Nielsen Online, said, “Not only are there more people online in South Africa, but they are spending more time online and viewing more content.  Companies and advertisers wishing to get their products and services in front of consumers can no longer ignore the power of the Internet.”

According to the new research:

•    The number of unique browsers and pages viewed increased by 25% between December 2007 and December 2008

•    Total time spent online increase by 45%

•    Males continue to dominate and now comprise 58% of the audience, up from 55% a year ago

•    The audience is aging, with the 50+ age group showing the most growth

•    English is the dominant language, comprising 56% of Unique Browsers — increasing share by almost 2%.  Afrikaans was the second-most dominant language, but showed a decrease of 2%.

•    The fastest growing brands are newspapers – Sunday World, Dispatch, Sowetan and The Herald all showed double or triple digit growth.

View the the full release

In June, there were 253 million people online in China, the government reported Friday.  The new figures indicate that China’s Internet population grew by 56% in the last year. 

In comparison, the stories noted that the U.S. had approximately 223.1 million Internet users in June, according to Nielsen Online.