NSO Malta | ICT Usage by Households: 2022

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ICT Usage by Households: 2022

NR038/2023

Release Date: 02 March 2023

Nine out of 10 persons aged between 16 and 74 years used the internet in 2022.

Internet usage by individuals

The survey on information and communication technology usage among households, which was partly financed by the European Commission, showed that the entire 16 to 24 age cohort used the internet in 2022, while individuals between 65 and 74 years recorded the lowest levels at 65.1 per cent (Table 2). Among all internet users, 97.8 per cent access the internet on a daily basis (Table 3). Internet usage in Malta was 1.6 percentage points higher then the EU-27 average (Chart 1).

Among all internet users, the two most common uses of internet were communication and entertainment with 97.3 per cent and 94.3 per cent, respectively (Chart 2).

e-Government services

Between 2021 and 2022 the number of e-Government users increased by 6.2 per cent. In absolute terms, the population accessing e-Government services stood at 267,917, which is equivalent to 73.2 per cent of internet users. The uptake of this service was more common among individuals aged between 16 and 34 years (Table 4).

e-Commerce

Internet users who engaged in e-commerce activities during the reference period amounted to 235,793 (64.4 per cent of internet users). The majority of e-commerce users (55.9 per cent) were within the 16 and 34 years age bracket (Table 5). Deliveries from restaurants, fast-food chains or catering services, and clothes were the two most common goods and services acquired online (Table 6). Over 121,000 internet users subscribed to streaming or downloading services of films or series and a further 70,125 purchased the streaming or downloading of music (Table 7). When booking accomodation or transport services from an online platform, e-commerce users showed a predisposition to book directly from the enterprise, rather than from private individuals (Table 8).

Chart 1. Percentage of individuals who used the internet ¹

Chart 2. Main activities for internet use by sex ¹

Chart 3. Frequency of internet use by age group

¹Includes only persons who used the internet within three months prior to the surveying period (refer to Table 1).

Notes:

Refer to Methodological note 4 for more information on internet activities.
Categories are not mutually exclusive.

Additional Tables and Charts

Table 1. Latest instance of internet use by year

Table 2. Demographic profile of internet users by year

Table 3. Frequency of internet use by year

Table 4. Profile of e-Government users by year

Table 5. Profile of e-commerce users by year

Table 6. Types of goods acquired over the internet by sex

Table 7. Types of subscriptions acquired over the internet by sex

Table 8. Purchase of transport or accommodation services by sex

All Tables

Methodological Notes

1. The survey on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usage by households is conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on an annual basis, under European Regulation (EC) No. 808/2004. The target population for this survey included all persons aged between 16 and 74 residing in private households. A gross sample of 2,210 individuals was selected using systematic random sampling from the population register held and maintained by NSO. A total of 1,690 filled questionnaires were collected between April and June 2022. All surveys were carried out through telephone interviews.

2. In order to produce population based estimates, weights for individual respondents were computed. For calibration purposes, data was subdivided by sex, age groups and districts (NUTS 4 classification).

3. Use of internet referred to in this news release includes all means of accessing this medium.

4. Definitions:

Main activities for internet use:

Communication includes sending and/or receiving emails, making calls over the internet, instant messaging and participating in social networks.

Access to information includes reading online news, and finding information about goods or services.

Civic and political participation includes expressing opinions on civic or political matters on websites or in social media and taking part in online consultations or voting on civic and political issues.

Use of entertainment includes listening or downloading music, watching internet streamed TV provided by TV broadcasters, watching Video on Demand from commercial services, watching video content from sharing services, playing or downloading games and listening to or downloading podcasts.

eHealth includes seeking health-related information, making an appointment with a practitioner via a website or application, accessing personal health records online and using other health services via a website or application.

Other online services include selling of goods or services and internet banking.

e-Government users include individuals who obtained information from public authorities or public services over the internet for private purposes, individuals who downloaded or printed official forms, and individuals who submitted completed forms online.

5. Below is a demographic profile of individuals’ population frame used for the purposes of this survey:

Please provide a valid CSV file.

6. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:

Sources and methods

Statistical Concepts

7. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately.

8. A detailed news release calendar is available online.