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Kiwis top world Web usage

WELLINGTON: New Zealanders access the Internet more than computer users in 31 other countries, a new international survey shows.

Seventy-five percent of the 1,000 New Zealanders surveyed in August had used the Internet in the previous month, up from 71 percent in a 2002 survey, market research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) said Tuesday.

Among the 32 countries participating in the TNS survey, the Netherlands was second in Internet usage at 72 percent followed by Denmark (71), Norway (69) and the United States (68). Australia came in at number eight in Internet usage, with 64 percent of the population going online. Australia and New Zealand also recorded high levels of people using government services online such as seeking information and paying government bills, though they were outstripped by countries such as Denmark, the highest at 63 percent, Norway (62), Finland (58), Singapore (53) and the Netherlands (52). Australia’s 47 percent and New Zealand’s 45 percent of population who had used government online services in the previous year were ahead of the United States (44 per cent) and Hong Kong (43 per cent).

New Zealand State Services Minister Trevor Mallard, welcoming results showing New Zealanders leading the world in Internet use, noted their use of government online services was “well above the global average of 30 percent.” Bulgaria brought up the rear in terms of Internet use — with only 1 percent or people accessing government services online and just 9 percent saying they had hooked up to the Internet in the previous month. TNS surveyed 32,000 adults in the 32 countries to determine their use of government online services.

The participating countries are Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, United States. —AP

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