The Australian Bureau of Statistics, the country’s national statistical agency, says one in four Australians used the internet in the last year, and home internet use quadrupled in the two years to February this year. The ABS report – Use of the internet by Householders – is the most comprehensive to date on the state of internet usage in Australia. The ABS found that more than 1.3 million people, or 42.9% of the adult population, used the internet at work, while more than 1 million people used it at home. A further 314,000 people used the internet both at home and at work. Males led the charge in the home, with 711,000 logging on in the domestic sphere, against 327,000 females. The total number of people logging onto the internet from any site was 3.03 million. Twenty six percent of males and 19.3% of females over the age of 18 used the internet in the twelve months to February 1998. Only 210,000 people were found to have used the internet to purchase goods or services.
