Kiwis lead the world online

The internet has transformed the way we communicate, work and play. Photo / NZ Herald

New Zealanders may complain about high rates and slow connections but recent studies show we are world leaders in internet use.

Fresh data from AUT University, compiled for the World Internet Project places New Zealand as the country with the highest internet penetration of any of the countries surveyed.

Run out of California, the project compares internet use in 30 countries including the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia.

Late last year, 1430 New Zealanders were quizzed on their use of and attitudes to the internet.

"In almost every way we measured, New Zealand is extraordinarily impressive," says project director and founder Jeff Cole.

Cole was impressed to find New Zealand had the best gender parity of web users of any country in the project - there is just one per cent difference between male and female use.

In the United States, which is second in interent gender parity, women were two percentage points higher than men in internet use.

In fact, Cole says, like it or not, New Zealand is most closely aligned to the United States across all the categories the project measured.

The internet is firmly embedded in the lives of New Zealanders across all demographics, he says.

"When you ask people how they would feel if they lost connection to the internet, only a small percentage say it would be better, very few say it would be the same and most say it would be worse," says Cole.

"We don't think there's a business or an activity that is not being affected and most are being transformed.'

More than half the people who use the internet do their weekly banking online and 70 per cent rated the internet above traditional mass media as a source of information.

AUT University's Dr Allan Bell, who steered the research, says it is also "potentially revolutionary" that Kiwis would consult the internet rather than talking to someone in their close network of people.

New Zealand users are actively creating material online and have the highest percentage of bloggers out of the countries surveyed.

Most users say the internet has increased their overall contact with friends and family, but they spend less time face-to-face with the people they live with.

A quarter of the Kiwis surveyed have made friends online and half of these have gone on to meet them in person, especially men in their 30s.