New report says Canadians are the world's #1 Internet addicts

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority has released its 2013 Factbook, which reveals that Canadians are the world’s top users of the Internet. The average Canadian, says the report, spends 45 hours a month online, which is nearly double the global average. Is it the weather?

The report, which is meant to promote .ca addresses, says it took 21 years to reach 1 million .CA domain names, and only four years to reach the second million.

CIRA’s president and CEO Byron Holland said the FactBook give a good overview of our online habits.

“I believe that Canadians will find the information within the Factbook revealing” said “From the increasing consumption of media content online to the continued growth of .CA, the Factbook provides a snapshot of an Internet landscape in Canada and around the world that is constantly evolving.”

The report says Canada has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world, with nearly 8 in 10 Canadians online. When we are online, says CIRA, we’re looking at a lot of video; almost 300 each month per person, half of which are from YouTube.

The report, however, points out that despite our obsession with the Internet, it cannot be said they we are getting a good deal. Despite the cost dropping by 20% to $3.29 per megabyte in the past year, we still rank 19th in the world, and our speeds are seriously lacking compared to place like Japan and South Korea.

The CIRA FactBook says Canada’s Internet economy is expected to grow by 7.4% per year through 2016. It says Canada’s Internet economy accounted for $49 billion in 2010, which is about 3% of our Gross Domestic Product. That number falls far short of the G20 GDP average of more than 4%.

You can view the full report here.

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