Asians Among Most Wired Americans
Asian-Americans who speak English are more experienced and active Internet users than whites, African-Americans or Hispanics, a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found.
Asian-Americans who speak English are more experienced and active Internet users than whites, African-Americans or Hispanics, a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found.
The Pew project found that about three-quarters of Asian-American adults have gone online, a significantly greater rate than the 58 percent of white adults, the 50 percent of Hispanic adults and the 43 percent of African-American adults who have done so.
Asian-Americans are also heavy daily users of the Web. Fully 70 percent of Asian-American Internet users are online on a typical day. This is much higher than any other English speaking ethnic or racial group. About half of Asian-American users have been online for more than three years; 80 percent have been using the Web for two or more years, easily making Asian-Americans the Web’s most experienced ethnic group.
“Clearly, Asian-Americans have enthusiastically brought the Internet deeply into their daily lives — not only as a source of information for school and work and for news, but also as a way to enhance their social lives and as a source of fun,” said Tom Spooner, a research specialist at the Pew Project.
Not only are Asian-Americans the most experienced group of Internet users in the United States, but they are also one of the Internet’s youngest online groups. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of Asian-American Internet users are between the ages of 18 and 34. As a whole, only 41 percent of Internet users fall in this range.
| Internet Use by Gender & Race | Gender | Overall | Asian | White | African American |
Hispanic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 52% | 72% | 55% | 38% | 48% |
| Women | 48% | 60% | 50% | 37% | 45% |
| Source: Pew Internet & American LIfe Project | |||||
Among older Asian-Americans, only 8 percent of those in the 45 to 54 age group are online, compared to 21 percent of white users in this age range and 15 percent of black users. Overall, thos ein the 45 to 54 age group account for 19 percent of the Internet population. Five percent of the Asian-American online populations is between 55 and 64, and 2 percent are older than 65.
Other findings from the Pew study include:
- Asian-American Internet users are more likely to have a college degree and a higher income than those in other racial and ethnic groups.
- About 78 percent of Asian-Americans use a computer, which represents more than 6 million people.
- Asian-American Internet users are voracious daily information gatherers — 34 percent get the day’s news online; 20 percent seek financial information on a typical day; and 19 percent look for political news and information on a daily basis.
The data is based on data from 10 months of telephone interviewing conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates between March 1, 2000 and Dec. 22, 2000. The March to December 2000 survey generated a sample of 26,094 adults — those who are 18 and older.
| Internet Users by Age and Race | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Ethnic Group | |||||
| Overall | Asian | White | African American |
Hispanic | ||
| 18-24 | 17% | 28% | 15% | 26% | 30% | |
| 25-34 | 24% | 35% | 23% | 28% | 31% | |
| 35-44 | 26% | 22% | 27% | 25% | 23% | |
| 45-54 | 19% | 8% | 21% | 15% | 11% | |
| 55-64 | 9% | 5% | 10% | 5% | 3% | |
| 65+ | 4% | 2% | 5% | 1% | 2% | |
| Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project | ||||||
