At least 38 per cent households in Bangladesh now have internet access though people in urban areas mostly enjoy the facilities as the number is double than the rural areas, finds a government survey.
It says internet access at home was 29.7 per cent for the rural whereas it was 63.4 per cent for the urban areas while the percentages of individuals aged 5 years and above who used computers and internet were 7.4 per cent and 38.9 per cent respectively.
The internet using rate was too low in rural areas comparing to urban. A higher proportion of males (36.6 per cent) compared to females (23.0 per cent) used internet in rural whereas the figures are 71.30 and 62.4 for the males and females respectively in urban areas.
Meanwhile, the percentage of individuals used mobile phones was 89.9 per cent.
Females are lagging behind in use of computer and internet in Bangladesh but in urban areas, the number of female mobile phones users is slightly higher than the male.
For both sexes, use of mobile phone was satisfactory both in rural (male 89.7 and female 89.6) while the figures are (male 90.6 and female 91.2) for urban areas. Overall, the females are lagging behind in use of computer and internet in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the national statistics organization of the country, has conducted the first ever comprehensive survey titled "Survey on Access and Use of JCT at Households and Individuals level 2022," in Bangladesh that came up with the findings.
According to the survey estimates, the percentage of households with access to computer was 8.7 per cent, of them 3.1 per cent for the rural areas and 25.6 per cent for the urban areas. Only 0.8 per cent of the households in Bangladesh have a fixed line telephone connection, of them 0.3 per cent for the rural areas and 2.3 per cent for the urban areas.
Regarding the use of computer, males (5.0 per cent) compared to females (2.7 per cent) used computer in rural whereas the rates are 23.8 and 13.1 for the males and females respectively in urban areas.
As regard access to radio, 12.8 per cent of the households have access to the radio that belongs to the household. Access to radio was 8.5 per cent in the rural households and 25.6 per cent in the urban households.
In Bangladesh, 62.0 per cent of households have at least one television unit that belongs to the household.
