Use of Internet services and technologies by Canadians: Interactive tool

Additional information

About CIUS

The target population is all persons 15 years of age and older living in the ten provinces of Canada. It excludes full-time (residing for more than six months) residents of institutions.

The Canadian Internet Use Survey was redesigned in 2018 and its findings should not be compared with those from previous surveys.

Only respondents who used the Internet in the three months preceding the survey answered these questions.

Please note that there may be minor changes in the question wording, notes, inclusions and exclusions for this question between the 2018 and 2020 cycles. Refer to the questionnaires when making comparisons between cycles.

E-commerce

Online shopping refers to the use of the Internet to order goods and/or services, where the commitment to buy was made online. It includes purchases made for personal or household use, and excludes business-related use.

Digital goods and services are digitally delivered and consumed, such as music or video downloads and online data-storage services.

Physical goods are ordered over Internet such as, clothing, books, electronics, toys or groceries, and exclude orders from restaurants and purchases made through online bulletin boards.

Other services ordered over the Internet include services, such as food or beverages delivered from restaurants, tickets for entertainment events or peer-to-peer ride services.

Peer-to-peer ride services are services that connect riders and drivers through a mobile application that acts as an intermediary and processes the payment from the rider to the driver. Examples of peer-to-peer ride intermediaries are Uber and Lyft.

Peer-to-peer accommodation are services that connect travellers and hosts through a mobile application or website that acts as an intermediary and processes the payment from the traveller to the host. Examples of peer-to-peer accommodation intermediaries are Airbnb and Flipkey.

Security and privacy

Only respondents who used the application or digital technology specified answered the question on the level of concern about security and privacy threats when using it.

Demographics

Refers to current gender which may be different from sex assigned at birth and may be different from what is indicated on legal documents. For data quality and confidentiality reasons, and because of the small population being measured, the dissemination of data according to "Non binary" gender is not possible for this statistical program. So, this release uses a gender variable with only two categories. This variable is derived by looking at a large number of demographic characteristics from the respondent, it allows us to disseminate data on gender that is reliable and unbiased.

The respondent's highest level of education ever completed.

Data quality indicators

A | Unrestricted release (coefficient of variation between 0 and 16.5%)

E | Use with caution (coefficient of variation between 16.6% and 33.3%)

F | Too unreliable to be published (coefficient of variation exceeds 33.3%)

Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2020.