In 2005 Internet connections in households in the five Nordic countries was most widespread among Icelandic households. That year 84% of Icelandic households had a connection to the Internet, whereas 75% of Danish households, 73% of Swedish households, 64% of Norwegian households and 54% of Finnish households had access to the Internet. Use of highspeed Internet connections is also more common among Icelandic households than within households in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Internet use among individuals in the age of 16–74 years is very common in the Nordic countries. In 2005 the share of internet users ranged between 73% (Finland) and 86% (Iceland).

These results as well as others are published by the Nordic Council of Ministers in a new report on the Nordic Information Society Statistics 2005. The report is a collaboration between the Nordic Council of Ministers and the statistical institutes in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It gives a broad picture of the status and development of various matters concerning the ICT sector and the use of ICT in the five Nordic countries.

Also today the Nordic Council of Ministers releases the publication Indicators for the Information Society in the Baltic Region 2005. The report summarizes results based on data compiled from the 11 member states of the Council of the Baltic Sea States – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden. The statistical material covers various indicators ranging from ICT infrastructure over the use of ICT by households and enterprises to indicators on the ICT sector, e-government, e-security and e-skills.

Both reports can be attained on Statistics Iceland’s website www.statice.is and the website of the Nordic Council of Ministers www.norden.org. Statistical tables on the Indicators for the Information Society in the Baltic Region 2005 will be accessable on the website of Statistics Denmark www.dst.dk/it.

Nordic Information Society Statistics 2005 – publication

Indicators for the Information Society in the Baltic Region 2005 – publication