Over Half of Russian Population Uses Internet – Sociologists

MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) – In the past year the number of Russian Internet users grew from 52% to 57% and the interests of users shifted towards following the latest news on the web, Interfax was told at Levada Center.

According to a nation-wide poll taken in October, Russians are using the web primarily for finding information (43%), socializing (36%) and entertainment (27%). Since last year the number of such respondents increased by 4-5 percentage points each.

The increase in the number of people wishing to follow the news on the Internet was the greatest from 19% to 25%. In addition, 12% continue to seek answers to the questions about that is happening in this country and abroad.

Among the reasons for visiting the web respondents also name search for films and music (22% and 21%), e-shopping (15) and book-reading (12%).

The aims vary depending on social and demographic groups.

Those who plunge into the Internet for the sake of information are mainly managers (90%), specialists and students (82% each), men in general (77%), aged 25-40 (77%), with a higher education (83%), living in cities with a population of 100,000-500,000 (82%) or Moscow (80%), and those who voted for Mikhail Prokhorov in the presidential election (84%).

The latest news and understanding of what is happening interests managers (66% – news and 38% – analytics), specialists (51% and 29% respectively), businessmen (50% and 26%), students (47% and 25%), people with a higher education (51% and 24%), living in Moscow (68% and 47%), and with a high consumer status (51% and 32%).

Socializing is the main purpose for students (77%), jobless (65%), women in general (65%), aged under 25 (74%) and 25-40 (65%), with a secondary education (66%), living in rural areas (69%), cities with a population of 100,000-500,000 (67%), and in Moscow (66%).

Entertainment is sought by students (74%), office workers (54%), jobless (53%), men in general (53%), aged under 25 (62%) and 25-40 (54%), with a secondary education (64%), living in Moscow (56%).