Factors Associated with Household Internet Use - ARCHIVED

Household Internet use is lower outside Canada's top 15 census metropolitan areas (CMAs). This result holds even after we account for some major factors associated with rurality that are also associated with lower Internet use, such as an older population with lower educational attainment and lower incomes. Thus, rurality appears to be an independent constraint on household Internet use. Entrepreneurs outside the top 15 CMAs are not using the Internet to overcome distance. In fact, the self-employed in the top 15 CMAs are more likely to use the Internet. On the positive side, children outside the top 15 CMAs may be in a relatively advantageous position. Households outside the top 15 CMAs with children under 18 years of age are more likely to access the Internet compared with similar households in the top 15 CMAs.