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Published: 7 November 2019

One-half of Finns have shopped online in the past three months

Seventy-nine per cent of Finns use the Internet several times per day. Most commonly, Finns use the Internet with their mobile phone (80%). Prior to the spring 2019 Parliamentary elections, 49 per cent of Finns entitled to vote used a voting aid application. One-half (50%) of Finns aged between 16 and 89 had bought something from the Internet in the past three months. Eleven per cent of Finns had rented short-term accommodation directly from a private person through an online marketplace.

Prevalence of Internet usage and certain purposes of use in 2019, Percentage share of population

	Used the Internet 1)	Usually uses the Internet several times a day	Bought something on the web 1)	Rented accommodation from a private person through an online marketplace 1) 2)	Used a voting aid application 3)	Followed some social network service 1)
16-24	100	97	59	11	64	86
25-34	100	96	71	21	68	86
35-44	100	97	75	13	65	84
45-54	98	90	59	11	57	65
55-64	96	82	47	12	44	52
65-74	80	57	21	2	30	32
75-89	41	23	7	1	8	11
Men	90	80	51	10	46	58
Women	89	78	49	11	52	64
All	90	79	50	11	49	61

1) During the past three months
2) Short-term accommodation
3) Prior to the 2019 Parliamentary elections

Four out of five (79%) Finns aged between 16 and 89 used the Internet several times per day in 2019. Of those aged under 45 almost everyone did so, but for those aged 65 to 74 only 57 per cent and among those aged 75 to 89 as little as 23 per cent. This appears from Statistics Finland's survey on the use of information and communications technology. The share of Internet users in the population aged 16 to 89 was 90 per cent. Most commonly, Finns use the Internet with their mobile phone (80%).

Voting aid applications are popular in Finland. Prior to the spring 2019 Parliamentary elections, 49 per cent of those entitled to vote used a voting aid application. Voting aid applications reach voters of all ages quite well. Of those aged under 45, around two-thirds used a voting aid application. The share for voters aged 65 to 74 was 30 per cent.

Prior to the 2019 Parliamentary elections, 26 per cent of Finns aged between 16 and 89 sought information about different parties’ platforms and candidates from online magazines. Twenty-five per cent sought information from the parties’ and candidates’ websites and blogs, and 11 per cent from social media.

In 2019, exactly one-half of Finns aged 16 to 89 had shopped online in the past three months. Over the last 12 months, 67 per cent of Finns had shopped online. Most commonly Finns buy clothes and shoes (47%), admission tickets (39%) and accommodation services (35%) online. Women and men shop online as frequently.

Participation in the sharing economy is not yet that common in Finland. Eleven per cent of Finns had rented accommodation directly from a private person through an online marketplace. Only six per cent had utilised intermediation services for rides provided by private persons. Buying used goods online is quite common. In 2019, in total 34 per cent of Finns aged 16 to 89 had bought used goods online in the past three months.

Source: Survey on Use of information and communications technology 2019, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Perttu Melkas 029 551 2511, Rauli Kohvakka 029 551 3448, tietoyhteiskunta.info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 7.11.2019