?>We listen more to podcasts, are happy to pay for music and movies and like to play games on our mobile phones. However, we are more restrictive with what we share about ourselves on social media. These are some of the conclusions in the latest report on "The Swedes and the Internet".
Every year, the Internet Foundation compiles a comprehensive report about us Swedes and our habits and behaviors on the Internet. On 15 October last year, the latest report valid for 2019 was launched.
What is clear in these reports is that the Swedes are a people with a great internet habit. As many as 98 percent of the population state that they have access to the Internet in their households, and 95 percent say that they use the Internet. The expansion of fiber has increased year by year, which is a big reason for the Swedes' strong internet habit. Fiber expansion stalled a bit in 2018, but gained new momentum last year. It is above all in rural areas that people get access to fiber at an increasingly high rate.
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Online games attract many
Something that many, especially young men, are amused by are online games. 60 percent regularly engage in some form of online gambling, although just under one in ten say they regularly gamble for money. Those who mainly pay to play are people in the 26-35 age group, where 14 percent state that they regularly gamble for money. The least likely to gamble for money is the 66 age group.New Swedish regulations regarding gambling
The Swedish Gaming Authority's new regulations have made it safer to play casino games online. (image: Shutterstock Images)
The question was how Sweden's new gambling regulations would affect gambling in, for example, casinos. On 1 January 2019, a new licensing system was introduced for gambling companies that want to operate towards a Swedish market. In order to target Swedish customers, the companies therefore had to hold a gambling license issued by the Gambling Inspectorate. This means, among other things, safer games for the customers at the online casino. So how has this affected Swedish gaming habits? Not much, it turns out. Gambling may have increased slightly from previous years, but gambling for money has actually decreased by 6 percentage points compared to the previous year. If you compare it with the first measurement in 2013, the reduction is a whopping 16 percentage points. Of those who play, however, most do so at licensed gambling companies. 78 percent of players only play on sites with a Swedish gaming license, while 4 percent state that they have played on sites without a gaming license. However, the range of companies that hold a Swedish gaming license is constantly increasing, and in January 2020 there are 94 companies that have received a gaming license.
However, how we play changes year by year. Nowadays, it is the mobile phone that is the device on which we prefer to engage in games. Regardless of whether you look at gender or age, it is on mobile that we prefer to play. However, many men still use the computer and older people often play on the tablet. Something that sets young men apart is that it is also common to watch others playing online via YouTube, for example.
In general, the mobile phone is becoming increasingly important in our internet use. 95 percent of internet users use the mobile phone , which is now as important as the computer, which ends up at 96 percent. If you also look at the daily use, it is clearly the mobile that dominates with 87 percent compared to the computer's 67 percent. 99 percent of the population owns their own mobile phone.
The digital exclusion is decreasing
Although a large part (95 percent) of the population has access to and uses the internet, there is a large group that still lives in digital exclusion. A whole million people rarely connect to the internet. They thus end up outside the digital community and find it difficult to keep up with new services. It is primarily older people who are affected. But here, too, things are going in the right direction. Ten years ago, in 2010, only 23 percent of people over 65 used the internet. That figure is now 69 percent.
What Swedes spend a lot of time on, and which they also find most meaningful, is following the news flow in various news apps. Listening to podcasts is something that also increases sharply year after year. Almost 48 percent of Internet users enjoyed listening to podcasts and radio programs and considered this time well spent. We also like watching movies and listening to music online and we have no problem paying for these services, which almost 6 out of 10 do.
Sweden best in digital social services
The government has set the bar high in digitization policy and aims for Sweden to become a world leader in utilizing the possibilities of digitization in terms of various community services. According to the OECD, we are already a world leader in the use of digital technology , but we are facing several challenges. You can easily say that we have everything set up to continue holding first place, but that we lack coordination. It is above all the Swedish model and the system of self-governing municipalities that make this possible. In Sweden there are 290 municipalities, 21 county councils and also independent authorities. In order to succeed in the future, there must be a better interaction between all these parties.
Despite this, more than 7 out of 10 Swedes use digital social services. At the top we find the Tax Agency's services, where more and more people see the benefit of submitting their return online. As much as 74 percent of the population uses the Swedish Tax Agency's digital services. In healthcare, half of internet users use digital services to make appointments, for example. However, the well-known sick apps, in which you can see a doctor, are not used as much. Only 10 percent of the population uses these.
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