Home Access on the Rise in the Middle East

Internet use is on the rise in the Middle East, with home usage increasing dramatically, according to Internet Arab World magazine.

Seventy two percent of the survey’s respondents went online at home, while less than one quarter logged on at work.

In the past year and a half, the percentage of high school graduates spiked from 17 percent to 27 percent, with the vast majority of this increase derived from new adult users. Undergraduate degree holder usage decreased by about five percentage points, but still remains the highest online user subgroup at 58 percent. More that 14 percent of the respondents held graduate and doctorate degrees, also a nearly 5 percent drop.

Internet Arab World said that falling access rates contributed to the increase in general online usage, which now boasts 1.1 million users, and increase access from home.

The average user in the Arab world is 30 years old, three years younger than the global average.
Seventy percent of the sample respondents were between the ages of 21 and 35, primarily from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait. The number of women online rose from 4.2 percent to 6 percent.

The online survey of more than 1,000 respondents was carried out by the IAW Research Unit.