personal reasons during the 12 months prior to June 2008, according to Statistics Canada’s “Canadian Internet Use Survey.” That was up from just over two-thirds in 2005.

Personal Internet use in Canada increased by 5 percentage points between 2005 and 2007. Users ages 16 and 17, who were not included in the 2005 survey, accounted for almost 1 percentage point of that increase.

In 2007, 96% of 16 to 24 year-olds went online, compared with only 29% of those 65 and older. However, Internet use increased across all age groups since 2005.

The overall age distribution of Internet users is fairly even between ages 2 and 54, according to comScore Networks’ “Canadians Online” study. For instance, there are nearly as many 35 to 44 year-old Internet users in Canada as there are 2 to 17 year-old users.

Statistics Canada estimated that 88% of people who accessed the Internet at home in Canada did so with a high-speed connection in 2007, up from 80% two years earlier. It attributed the growth to new users bypassing dial-up altogether and existing users switching from slower services.

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