About 1.7 million households, or 74.6% of all Hong Kong homes, had personal computers in 2008, the Census & Statistics Department says, maintaining the city's position as one of the world's digital capitals.

The department conducted two surveys on the usage and penetration of information technology in Hong Kong homes and businesses from May to September 2008. Of the households with PCs, 1.6 million (95.1%) had their systems connected to the Internet, representing 70.9% of all Hong Kong households.

About 4.2 million of people aged 10 and over, or 68.2% of all people in that age group, had used PCs at least once in the year before the survey, and 2.4 million people aged 10 and over, or 39.1% of that age group, had used online Government services to handle personal matters.

Of the people aged 10 and over who used Internet services via a non-mobile web device, 43.5% within the group (or 1.7 million people) had browsed Government websites, or searched for or downloaded Government information online, up 1.2 percentage points on 2007.

Business sector

IT usage in the business sector has stabilised in recent years. The percentage of establishments using PCs was 63.1% in 2008, representing a marginal fall of 0.7 of a percentage point on a year earlier. Meanwhile, the percentage of establishments having an Internet connection was 58.8%. The corresponding figure in 2007 was 59.8%.

As the penetration and use of PCs and the Internet among households is already at a high level, they have stabilised, but there has been an increase in the use of technology and e-government services by the public.

The Government will continue to collaborate with the industry and professional bodies, and non-government organisations, in facilitating business sectors, especially small and medium enterprises, to exploit the full potential and benefits of IT to improve their competitiveness.

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