The South African online population is typically behind other first world countries such as the United States, or the United Kingdom in terms of internet usage. This is due to a number of factors including legislation, high pricing structures and education amongst others.
That said, the population of users who are online in South Africa has grown by just over 13% from 3.5 million in 2007 to 5.1 million in 2008.
With a population of just over 44,3 million, that represents a 12,6% percentage of South Africans having an online presence.
This ranks fourth highest on the African continent:
This figure is set to rise even further in coming years with the introduction of undersea cables such as SAT3 & Seacom which will hopefully become operational mid 2009. World Wide Worx has predicted that the Seacom cable will increase South Africas global bandwidth connection 40 fold.
These introductions, as well as an increase in the number of internet service providers will significantly reduce the price of connectivity moving forward having an direct impact on accessibility for all South Africans.
Looking at the current South African online population in more detail shows some interesting points:
- 66% of web users are younger than 40
- 18-29 year olds make up 35%
- 30-39 year olds make up 31%
- 65% of the South African online population use Google as their preferred search engine
- Close on 1 million South African residents use face book, increasing by a massive 33% from 2007 – insidefacebook.com
As more information is driven online, media as well as growing social networks the trend of growing internet users is set to continue at a very healthy rate into the future.
In coming months Baitbox will be focusing on the South African market and why you should be taking it more seriously to build your talent pipeline.
