The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said that “there is much to celebrate” and “progress is encouraging” in its comparison of Internet use between 2021 and 2023.
A new NTIA study found that 83% of people ages three and up used the Internet “in some fashion” in 2023, which was more than the 80% that did so in 2021. That’s the largest increase since the 2015-2017 period.
The percentage gain translates to 13 million more people using the Internet.
The NTIA found that just 12% of people lived in households without any Internet connection in 2023, which was a bit less than the 14% in 2021.
The gains came in large part from population segments that traditionally lag in access. For example, 83% of Native Americans and Native Alaskans used the Internet in 2023 compared to 75% two years earlier. The study also found that Internet use increased from 69% in 2021 to 73% in 2023 in households making less than $25,000 per year.
The NTIA found that 72% of people live in households with both fixed and mobile Internet connections in 2023 compared to 69% in the earlier period.
While acknowledging the good news, the NTIA said that challenges remain.
For instance, there are significant differences between groups when it comes to diversity of devices used. The NTIA found that 72% of white non-Hispanics and 71% of Asians used a desktop, laptop or tablet computer last year, while only 62% of Black Americans, 57% of Native Americans and Alaska Natives and 54% of Hispanics did so.
“Despite significant gains, persons in lower-income households remained considerably less likely than their higher-income counterparts to have both fixed and mobile connections and were more likely to either have no household connections or be mobile-only,” wrote Rafi Goldberg, NTIA’s Senior Policy Advisor, Digital Equity.