Statistics are available on the “digital divide,” the gap between those with access to new technologies, including the Internet, and those without. This summer, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NRIA), an agency of the U. S. Department of Commerce, released a credible and useful source.
NTIA, in a publication entitled Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide, reported that households with incomes of $75,000 or above are more than 20 times more likely to have Internet access than those at lower income levels; and the higher income homes are nine times more likely to have a computer. The figures for households with high incomes are substantially the same for all races and ethnic groups.
At incomes below $75,000, white households are more likely to have Internet access at home than other households. Urban low-income households are twice as likely to have Internet access than rural households of the same income levels.
The full text of the report is available on NTIA's Web site.
[Contact: NTIA; Web: www.ntia.doc.gov/ ntiahome/digitaldivide]
