World Wide Web User Profiles by Geographic Region

by Erik Granered

From the Non-USA Dataset of GVU's 3rd WWW User Survey

Source: WWW User Profiles by Geographic Region by Erik Granered

Acknowledgment

Sincere thanks are extended to Jim Pitkow of the GVU WWW Survey team for compiling and making the Non-USA dataset available to me. Without his quick and competent responses to my e-mail inquiries, this study would never have taken place.

This is a long document. You may jump to topics by selecting from this list of contents:

Background

Response Profile by Geographic Region

Summary of Findings

General Demographics

[Gender] [Marital Status] [Dependents] [Race]

Professional Demographics

[Education] [Occupation] [Income] [Computer Hours at Work]

Computer Use

[Internet Access Provider] [Number of Computers] [Fee Preferences]

[Computer Fun Hours] [Internet Experience] [Share Machine] [Browser]

Background

GVU's 3rd WWW User Survey

With just over 13,000 responses, GVU's WWW User survey is by far the largest electronic survey ever. For analysis of the complete dataset please refer to these two sites:

1. <http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/> (The GVU Center at Georgia Tech) - please see "Additional Resources" for a true link.

2. <http://www.umich.edu/~sgupta/hermes/> (the Hermes Project) -- please see "Additional Resources" for a true link.

This analysis is concerned with the responses from outside the United States. There were 2,521 non-US responses, 19 percent of the total, representing 80 different countries.

Methodology

The tab-delineated, ascii text dataset of non-US respondents to the GVU 3rd WWW User Survey was downloaded from the GVU FTP site at <ftp.gatech.cc.edu>. The data was loaded on a PC and processed in Microsoft Excel 5.0, Microsoft Access 2.0, and Microsoft Word For Windows 6.0. The geographic subsets were created in Microsoft Access. The queries for each individual question were conducted in Access using Query Wizard's "find duplicates" function. The results of these queries were then moved to Excel for additional analysis and graphics work. The final graphs were exported to Word for Windows, where the text was added.

Limitations

The GVU Survey home page elaborates on two sets of limitations, self-selection and non-probabilistic sampling. The language barrier must be considered a contributing factor to self-selection process. The high number of responses from other English-speaking countries such as Australia (236) and Canada (692) may not only indicate that these countries have a high degree of connectivity, but that language in fact facilitated the decision to take the survey.

The small number of responses from regions such as Latin America and the Middle East does not necessarily indicate that these responses are not representative samples of World Wide Web users in these areas as Internet connectivity is not as advanced there as in Western countries.

Response Profile by Geographic Region

1. The Non-USA Dataset

There were a total of 2,521 responses to GVU's 3rd WWW User Survey from outside the United States. These responses were from 80 different countries. The average age of the respondents was 32.

2. Asia

There were 147 responses from Asia. These responses came from Hong Kong (21), India (3), Japan (27), Malaysia (4), Singapore (59), South Korea (10), Taiwan (5), Thailand (2) and other (12). The average age of the respondents was 31.

3. Canada

There were 692 responses from Canada, representing every Canadian province. The average age of the respondents was 35.

4. Europe

There were 1,273 responses from Europe, by far the largest number of responses outside the United States. These responses came from Austria (28), Belgium (35), Croatia (35), Czech Republic (2), Denmark (29), Estonia (2), Finland (66), France (60), Germany (111), Greece (3), Iceland (14), Ireland (20), Italy (49), Netherlands (88), Norway (51), Poland (4), Portugal (5), Russia (4), Spain (10), Sweden (85), Switzerland (60), United Kingdom (495), other (15). It is noteworthy to point out that the responses from the United Kingdom made up 39 percent of the European dataset, and 3.8 percent of the total, fourth after California, New York and Texas. The average age of the European respondents was 31.

5. Latin America

There were only 53 responses from Latin America. Fifty percent of these responses were from Mexico (24), followed by Brazil (9), Chile (5), Colombia (3), Costa Rica (3), and other(4). The average age was 30, the lowest of all the geographic regions.

6. Middle East

There were only 30 responses from the Middle East, coming from Israel (27) and Kuwait (2), and other (1). The average age of these respondents was 35.

7. Oceania

Oceania includes Australia (236), New Zealand (43) and other (17), giving a total of 269 respondents. The average age was 35.

8. Responses from South Africa and Antarctica were not handled in this study.

Summary of Findings

1. As a group, non-US World Wide Web users are male, highly educated, with high incomes and with plenty of computer experience. Many are married and have children. This sophistication probably reflects the relatively high entry barriers that still exist in becoming familiar with the Internet. Commercial vendors such as America Online and CompuServe have lowered these entry barriers, but non-US respondents do not yet use these commercial services, be it for reasons of access or cost.
2. Non-US World Wide Web users are predominantly white. The only substantial non-white communities could be found in Latin America (71 percent Spanish) and Asia (66 percent Asian). In both these regions, the percentage of white respondents was surprisingly large at about 28 percent.
3. The commercial Internet user-revolution that is taking place in the US is reflected among non-US World Wide Web Users as well. While educators, students and computer professionals still dominate, there are substantial groups of "professionals, managers and other" in all of the geographic regions.
4. Most respondents indicate that their willingness to pay for access to World Wide Web sites and databases would depend on cost and quality. This shows that they are at least open-minded to the possibility of paying if the information is good and reasonably priced. This survey did not contain any information regarding people's willingness to use a credit card to pay for the information.
5. Most respondents do not use their computers as a recreational tool. While most users do play with their computers to some extent, few do so more than 10 hours per week.
6. There is a relationship between regional connectivity and Internet experience within each region. For example, Europeans and Australians have more Internet experience than Latin Americans and Asians.
7. Perhaps the most surprising result of this survey is the extent to which Mozilla dominates as a Browser among non-US World Wide Web users. With all other browsers represented in most of the regions, none of them get even close to Mozilla, which enjoys a market share of 85 percent overall.

General Demographics

Gender

Survey Question: What is your gender?

Findings

• More than 90 percent of non-US WWW users are male
• The largest number of women can be found in Canada (12%), Asia (11%) and Oceania (11%)
• Europe has the strongest male domination with 92 percent
• Only 7 percent of Europeans indicated their gender as female

Marital Status

Survey question: What is your current marital status?

Findings

• 40 percent of Non-US WWW users are married
• The percentage of single or divorced non-US WWW users is 57
• The largest number of singles can be found in Latin America at 65 percent
• The largest number of married users are in Canada and the Middle East, both at 49 percent
• Canada has the largest number of divorced respondents (8%)
• Only 34 percent of European WWW users are married
• Only 35 percent of Latin American WWW users are married

Dependents

Survey Question: How many people in your household are dependent children?

Findings

• 66 percent of non-US WWW users have no dependents
• 70 percent of European respondents reported having no dependents
• 53 percent of Middle Eastern respondents reported having two or more dependents
• The responses from Asia, Canada and Oceania were very similar, with about 60 percent reporting no dependents and 40 percent reporting two or more dependents

Race

Survey Question: What is your race/ethnic origin?

Findings

• The Non-US WWW community is largely white (84%)
• The largest non-white communities can be found in Asia, where 66 percent reported being Asian, and Latin America, where 71 percent reported being Hispanic
• 94 percent of European WWW users are white
• There are no black user communities in any of the geographic regions
• A surprisingly large percentage of Asian WWW users reported being white (28%)
• The large percentage of Middle Eastern responses reporting other or not_say (31%) can be attributed to the survey not having Arab or Jewish response areas

Professional Demographics

Education

Survey Question: Please indicate the highest level of education completed.

Findings

• Over 90 percent of the non-US WWW community is college educated
• Close to 40 percent has a masters degree or higher
• The largest percentage of Doctoral Degrees can be found in the Middle East (18%) and Europe (14%)
• Professional training is more common in Latin America (16%) and in Oceania (14%)
• While still high, the educational level in Latin America is slightly lower than in other regions, with 32 percent reporting a masters degree or higher

Occupation

Survey Question: Which of the following categories best describe your primary occupation?

Findings

• The largest occupational segments are education and computers
• 33 percent of non-US WWW users are in the computer field
• 52 percent of Middle Eastern respondents reported being in the computer field
• The largest educational/student community is in Latin America (43%)
• About 30 percent of respondents reported being in management or a professional occupation

Income

Survey Question: Please indicate your current household income in U.S. dollars.

Findings

• 10 percent of non-US WWW users make over $100,000 per year
• 33 percent make between $50,000 and $100,000 per year
• over 40 percent make over $50,000 per year
• 50 percent of Latin American respondents make less than $25,000 per year
• 20 percent of Asian WWW users make over $100,000 per year
• European respondents reported the most equitable distribution of income with about 30 percent in each (<25, 25-50, 50-100)

Computer Hours at Work

Survey Question: How many hours per week do you use your computer for work?

Findings

• There is a wide variety in the number of computer work-hours spent within all the geographic regions
• About half of the non-US WWW users spend less than 30 hours on their computers at work
• the other half spends more than 30 hours
• 70 percent of European, Latin American and Middle Eastern respondents spend more than 20 hours on their computers
• 67 percent of Asian respondents spend more than 30 hours on their computers at work

Computer Use

Internet Access Provider

Survey Question: What is the nature of your primary Internet access provider?

Findings

• Educational institutions are the largest access providers in most regions; Latin America (61%), Oceania (53%), Europe (46%)
• Local access providers are the major access providers in the Middle East (53%), Canada (49%) and in Asia (38%)
• The region with the highest percentage of commercial access was Asia with 23 percent
• Government, online services and organizational providers combined made up about 10 percent of access providers in all regions
• Local access providers are more rare in Oceania (24%), Latin America (19%) and Europe (29%)
• Commercial access in Asia is the largest with 23 percent

Number of Computers

Survey Question: How many personal computers do you own?

Findings

• About 90 percent of non-US WWW users own at least one computer
• 40 percent overall own two or more computers
• 46 percent of Asian and Latin American WWW users own two or more computers
• 15 percent of Asian respondents reported having three computers
• 14 percent of WWW users in Europe and Oceania do not own a computer
• 11 percent of Latin American respondents do not own a computer

Fee Preferences

Survey Question: Would you be willing to pay for information from WWW sites/databases?

Findings

• 23 percent or non-US WWW users said they would not be willing to pay for access to Web-based information
• 65 percent responded that it would depend on both cost and quality
• 3 percent of respondents answered that they would be willing to pay
• No respondents in either the Middle East or Latin America answered "yes" to this question
• Respondents in the Middle East showed the least resistance to the idea of paying for information with only 10 percent answering "no"

Computer Fun Hours

Survey Question: How many hours per week do you use your computer for fun/play?

Findings

• 78 percent of non-US WWW users spend less than 10 hours per week playing with their computer
• The remaining 22 percent spend less than 30 hours having fun with their computers
• 12 percent of Latin American respondent reported spending more than 20 hours playing with their computers
• Canadian respondents and respondents from Oceania spend more fun-hours with their computers with about 60 percent spending more than 5 hours per week on recreational computing

Internet Experience

Survey Question: How many years have you been on the Internet (including email, gopher, ftp, etc.)?

Findings

• 43 percent of non-US WWW users have spent less than a year on the Internet
• 41 percent have spent more than 4 years on the Internet
• Asian users have the least Internet experience, with nearly 70 percent reporting less than 3 years
• Middle Eastern Internet users have the most experience, with 50 percent having more than 4 years experience
• Internet users in Europe and Oceania are comparatively more experiences with 61 percent of Europeans and 57 percent of users in Oceania having more than a year of experience

Share Machine

Survey Question: Are you the primary/sole user of the machine you are currently using?

Findings

• 20 percent of the non-US respondent share a machine with somebody else
• 34 percent of Latin Americans share a machine
• Only 10 percent of Asian computer users share a machine

Browser

Findings

• 85 percent of Web users outside the United States use Mozilla (Netscape) as their main browser
• Mosaic is a distant second with about 5 percent of the non-US Web market
• Mozilla is particularly dominant in the Middle East with 91 percent
• Canada has the least number of Mozilla users with 81 percent