Mexico has a sharp digital divide

According to the results of the National Survey on Availability and Usage of Information Technologies in Households prepared by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography ( INEGI ), the use of smartphones has increased throughout the country, going from 60.6 million in 2016 to 64.7 million in 2017.

There are 71.3 million Internet users in Mexico which represent almost 63.9% of the population aged six and over, according to the Executive Manager of Economy Statistic of the INEGI, Arturo Blancas Espejo.

However, the digital divide is considerable. According to the survey, 71.2 % of the population in urban areas aged 6 and over said to be Internet users – a stark contrast with the 39.2% who stated the same in rural areas .

The Mexican states with the smallest technological gap are Baja California, with 81% of users in urban areas and 69% in rural populations, and Morelos (with 68% and 59%, respectively).

Comparing overall internet users in Mexico to other countries, our country falls behind nations such as Sweden (96.2%), the UK (94.6%), and South Korea (92.7%).

According to the survey, of the overall number of internet users, 50.8% identified as female and 49.2 % as male, and the technological devices used to connect to the Internet rank as follows:

-smartphones, 33.1%

-desktop computers, 32.8%

-laptops, 32.8

-tablets, 18.5%

-smart TV, 12.4%

-gaming console, 6.2%

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