Household access to Internet rises drastically
Fresh data has revealed household access to the Internet has risen dramatically in Botswana over the last five years.
Figures availed by Statistics Botswana reveal that in 2019, 424, 120 households – 63.5 percent of all households in the country – had access to the Internet.
This represents a significant 72.4 percent increase on the 245, 941 households with Internet access in 2014.
The survey found that urban villages had the highest proportion of households with Internet access, at 49.9 percent.
Cities and towns and rural villages followed at 27.9 percent and 22.2 percent respectively, with all these areas recording an increase in households with access to the Internet during the five years between surveys.
According to the survey, male-headed households are more likely to have Internet access than female-led homes.
In total, of the 668, 338 households included in the survey, 34.9 percent with Internet access were male-headed while 28.6 percent were female-led.
Another key element observed is that households led by tertiary graduates made up the highest total of households with access to the Internet at 179, 384.
This was followed by those who have completed their secondary school education – a total of 144, 410 households.
Households headed by those with non-formal education were found to be the least likely to have access to Internet, with only 7, 152 households falling into this category.
Furthermore, the survey found that homes led by individuals between the ages of 35 and 44 had the highest prevalence of households with access to the Internet, constituting of 28.3 percent of all such dwellings.
They were closely followed by those within the age group of 25-34 years with 25.6 percent, while households with the lowest access to the Internet are led by persons aged 75 years and above.
During the survey, a total of 244, 268 households are said to have reported having no access to the Internet in Botswana.
Households are reported to have given various reasons for not having access to the Internet. Top of the list was lack knowledge on Internet usage, cited by 35.8 of the non-access households.
Second was the cost of equipment used for the Internet being too high, with 29.1 percent highlighting such.
