Almost nine out of 10 households in Turkey currently enjoy Internet access, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, citing a Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) survey released on Tuesday.
Internet access of households in the country rose 4.5 percentage points to 88.3 percent in 2019 over last year, according to the Information and Communication Technology Usage Survey.
While some 87.9 percent of households had a broadband Internet connection, 86.9 percent also used a mobile broadband connection in 2019.
A total of 75.3 percent of individuals in the 16-74 age group used the Internet in 2019, over 72.9 percent in 2018, according to the survey.
“While the proportion of male[s] aged 16-74 using [the] Internet [was] 81.8%, this proportion was 68.9% for female[s],” it said.
“During the twelve months [April 2018-March 2019], 51.2% of internet users among … individuals aged 16-74 interacted with public authorities over the Internet for private purposes,” TurkStat said.
This proportion was 45.6 percent in the previous period, it added.
In the April 2018-March 2019 period, 34.1 percent of Internet users used online services to buy goods or services, up from 29.3 percent in the previous period.
“The proportion of shopping over the Internet was 38.3% for males and 29.9% for females,” the statistical body said.
According to available data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Turkey ranked 21st among OECD members in Internet access in 2018.