Computer Literacy Statistics – 2015 (First six months)
Department of Census and Statistics
Sri Lanka
ISSN 2012-6565
January - June - 2015
The birth of the Information Age which is also known as Computer Age, is associated with the Digital Revolution, just as
the Industrial Revolution marked the birth of the Industrial Age. The Digital and Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) revolutions are twin revolutions. The rapid developments in ICT have greatly contributed in enhancing human living
standards worldwide. The advanced capability of this technology facilitates with extremely efficient collaboration and access to
correct, consistent and effective information, which is fundamental to manage the quality in total. In developed world, most of the
key economically effective environments are increasingly ICT dominant and therefore, investing on ICT developments in the 21st
century has become a compulsory requirement for a country to survive.
Timely and accurate information on ICT itself is essential for justification and proper direction of the Government efforts,
private sector investments, to study the changing pattern of the demand for internet services and for continuous progress
monitoring on ICT achievements.
For this computer literacy data can contribute immensely to an understanding of the demand and supply of skills in the
global, knowledge based economy. Also statistics on the availability of a computer/laptop in households and usage of internet and
email that exist between demographic and geographic groups provides more insight for the scattering of ICT facilities.
To cater the relevant data need the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) has conducted several surveys on computer
literacy in Sri Lanka. The surveys were in 2004, 2006/07, 2009, 2014 and latest is in 2015. This bulletin exposes the major
findings of the first six months starting from January to June in 2015. More detailed report will be available with the full year
dataset. For the current analysis of the computer literacy survey a nationally distributed sample of 12,500 households with
persons aged 5 – 69 years were enumerated.
Household computer ownership
If a desktop or laptop is available at a household then
that household is considered as a computer owned household.
The Table 1 shows the percentage distribution of computer
owned households by Sector/ Province levels. In 2015, at least
one computer is available in 25% of households of the country.
That is one out of every four households owns either a desktop
or a laptop computer. This percentage is 42.0% in Urban Sector
and Rural and Estate Sector show 22.0% and 5.4% respectively.
The highest availability is in Western province (38.7%) while
the lowest availability is reported from Uva.
Table 2 shows the year of acquisition of the first
computer to the household. It was revealed that about 66.9
percent of the households have acquired the first computer
during the last five years (2010 – 2014) and during 1st six
months in 2015, about 3.8 percent acquisition computers.
Table 2: Computer owned households (percentage) by the
year of first acquisition of a computer -2015
Total
Sector
Table 1: Percentage of computer owned households by
Sector and Province - 2014 and 2015 (during 1st 6 months).
Sector/ Province
Desktop (%)
2015
2014
2015
15.4
23.2
22.4
35.8
24.6
Urban
16.6
25.8
Rural
15.3
14.4
20.4
22.0
Estate
2.7
3.9
4.6
5.4
2005
2009
2010
2014
2015
during 1st
6 months
Sri Lanka
100.0
6.2
4.0
19.1
66.9
3.8
Urban
100.0
12.7
5.8
23.9
56.2
1.3
Rural *
100.0
3.7
3.4
17.3
70.9
4.7
Western
24.5
23.3
33.0
38.7
Central
18.0
16.1
23.5
23.0
Southern
16.0
13.1
21.0
20.0
Northern
8.6
8.1
19.5
14.7
19.0
Eastern
10.8
9.6
North-western
14.5
13.8
20.1
21.7
North-central
7.4
13.0
10.1
20.3
Uva
9.2
13.7
6.9
12.8
11.1
16.6
10.9
Map 1: Household computer ownership (percentage) –
2015 (during 1st 6 months)
42.0
Province
Sabaragamuwa
20012004
Desktop or Laptop (%)
2014
Sri Lanka
Before
2001
12.8
18.1
N.A. - not available
1
Figure 1: Percentage of Desktop or Laptop
computer owned households by Sector: 2014 and
2015 (during 1st 6 months).
Figure 2: Percentage of Desktop or Laptop computer owned
households by province: 2014 and 2015 (during 1st 6 months).
40
45
35
40
30
35
25
30
20
25
15
20
10
Rural
Estate
2014 1st 6 months
All sectors
2015 1st 6 months
2014 1st 6 months
Uva
Sabaragamuwa
Urban
North-central
0
North-western
Eastern
Northern
Southern
Central
5
Western
0
10
Sri Lanka
5
15
2015 1st 6 months
Computer literacy
Overall Computer Literacy reported in 1st half of
2015 for Sri Lanka is 26.8%. The survey results show an
increase of 1.7 percentage points from 2014 (1st half) to
2015 (1st half).
Definition for Computer literacy: A person (aged 5-69) is
considered as a computer literate person if he/she could use
computer on his/her own. For example, even if a 5 years old
child can play a computer game then he/she is considered as a
computer literate person.
Definition for computer literacy rate: Computer Literate
population expressed as a percentage to the total population,
(aged 5 – 69 years) within the respective domain.
Table 3 : Computer literacy rate by sector and province –
2015 (during 1st 6 months).
The Urban sector shows the highest computer
literacy rate (40.3%) among residential sectors. Computer
literacy rate for Rural and Estate are 24.9% and 7.8%
respectively. Among the provinces with the highest level of
computer literacy is reported from the Western province
(38.3%) while the lowest percentage is reported from
Eastern province.
Computer literacy rate (%)
Sector/Province
Sri Lanka
Sector
Urban
Rural
Estate
Province
Western
Central
Southern
Northern
Eastern
North Western
North Central
Uva
Sabaragamuwa
2014
2015
25.1
26.8
34.6
23.8
6.2
40.3
24.9
7.8
34.3
24.3
25.4
17.5
15.9
22.6
15.3
17.1
22.6
Table 3.1 : Computer literacy rate by district – 2015
(during 1st 6 months).
District
38.3
25.7
26.8
19.9
12.8
24.1
21.2
17.1
20.7
Figure 3: Computer literacy rate by province – 2014 & 2015
(during 1st 6 months)
Western
42
Sabararamuwa
35
Literacy
Rate
District
Literacy
Rate
All Island
26.8
Mulativu
Colombo
47.1
Kilinochchi
16.0
8.9
Gampaha
32.8
Batticaloa
13.8
Kalutara
32.3
Ampara
12.1
Kandy
32.0
Trincomalee
12.4
Matale
25.5
Kurunegala
23.6
Nuwara Eliya
13.2
Puttalam
25.4
Galle
26.8
Anuradhapura
22.3
Matara
25.7
Polonnaruwa
18.7
Hambantota
28.2
Badulla
15.2
Jaffna
21.7
Monaragala
19.8
Mannar
11.5
Ratnapura
21.1
Vavunia
26.9
Kegalle
20.2
Central
28
21
14
Uva
The table 3.1 shows the computer literacy rates recorded in
1st
half
of
2015,
by
district
level.
Southern
7
0
North Central
Nort h West ern
2014 1st 6 months
Nort hern
Eastern
2015 1st 6 months
2
The survey results reveal that higher the level of
education higher the computer literacy. The group with
G.C.E.(A/L) or above level of education shows the highest
computer literacy rate (70.1%). Also computer literacy is
higher among those who are literate in English language
(69.6%).
Table 4 : Computer literacy rate by Gender, Age, Level of
education, and Language literacy – 2015 (during 1st 6
months).
Gender, Age group, Educational
attainment and Language literacy
Sri Lanka
By Sex
Male
Female
By Age group(years)
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 49
50 - 59
60 - 69
By Educational attainment
No schooling
Below grade 6
Grade 6-10
G.C.E (O/L)
G.C.E. (A/L) or above
By Language literacy (age 10 - 69)
Sinhala
Tamil
English
Computer literacy
rate (%)
26.8
Table 5: Computer literacy among computer aware
employed population (aged 15 – 69 years) by Occupation –
2015 (during 1st 6 months).
28.7
25.1
Computer
literacy (%)
Occupation group
14.7
52.7
71.3
85.0
84.0
88.2
50.7
18.9
36.7
37.2
22.4
71.3
Sri Lanka
Managers, Senior Officials and Legislators
Professionals
Technicians and Associate Professionals
Clerks and Clerical support workers
Services and Sales workers
Skilled Agricultura1, Forestry and Fishery workers
Craft and Related Trades workers
Plant and Machine operators and Assemblers
Elementary occupations
Armed Forces Occupations & unidentified occupations
39.1
57.2
52.6
43.6
31.6
25.9
16.8
10.7
6.0
1.5
Computer literacy among the employed population
who are aware of computer in Sri Lanka is around 52.7 % in
1st half of 2015 and the positions such as Senior officials and
Managers (71.3%), Professionals (85.0%), Technical and
Associate professionals (84.0%) and Clerks and Clerical
support workers (88.2%) have higher computer literacy.
However, even among the individuals engage in elementary
occupations twenty two percent are computer literate.
10.1
17.8
40.9
70.1
32.5
26.0
69.6
Table 6 : Computer literacy among unemployed
population (aged 15 – 69 years) by age group – 2015
(during 1st 6 months).
As given in Table 4 the Computer literacy among
male (28.7%) is higher than that of female (25.1%) in 2015.
Young youths (aged 15 – 19 years) show the highest computer
literacy rate (57.2%) among all other age groups. Age 50
years and above groups show low computer literacy rates.
Age group (years)
Sri Lanka
15 – 19
20 – 24
25 – 29
30 – 39
40 – 69
Figure 4: Distribution of computer literacy rate by
Educational attainment and Language literacy –2015
(during 1st 6 months).
Total
Computer literate population
Not literate
Literate (%)
(%)
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
56.4
43.8
69.1
66.6
45.1
26.7
43.6
56.2
30.9
33.4
54.9
73.3
Among the unemployed, aged (20-24) group shows
highest computer literacy. The survey results reveal that
among unemployed many have at least some ICT skills.
Source of computer training
Table 7 shows that the majority of those who are
computer literate have received training from Private
institutions or School/University. The training received
through Government training are comparatively low (6.0%),
however in the Estate sector this percentage is about 5.7%.
3
Different usage patterns of internet usage can be
observed among districts (Table 8). Colombo district shows
the highest percentage (27.6%) of population using internet
while Mulativu district shows the lowest percentage (2.6%).
The survey results reveals that 8.8 percent of the household
population aged 5 – 69 years has used E–mail facility at least
once during the last 12 months period. Highest e-mail usage
is reported from the Colombo district (21.2%) followed by
Gampaha district (13.6%). The lowest e–mail usage among
the districts has reported from the Monaragala district (2.1%).
Table 7: Percentage distribution of Computer literate
household population (aged 5 – 69 years) by sources of
receiving computer knowledge* and sector – 2015 (during
1st 6 months).
Source of computer
training multiple
Total (%)
Private training course
School/University
Govt. training centres
Employment activities
Work place
Family members
Friends/ Relatives
Self
Other
Residential sector (%)
Urban
30.5
43.1
6.0
15.4
7.7
25.7
20.0
23.0
3.7
29.9
43.7
4.7
20.4
12.5
27.0
20.2
28.8
5.0
Rural
Estate
30.6
42.6
6.4
13.9
6.2
25.4
20.0
21.2
3.3
40.6
60.1
5.7
7.1
0.9
15.3
17.6
16.1
6.6
Table 9: Percentage distribution of Internet and E-mail
using household population (aged 5 – 69 years) by age
group – 2015 (during 1st 6 months).
Household Population (age5-69)
Age group (years)
Internet (%)
* Multiple choice answers
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV
(Cofficient of variation) values are high.
Sri Lanka
5 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 49
50 - 59
60 - 69
Internet and E-mail use
The Table 8 depicts that 11.8 % of the population
aged 5 to 69 years uses the internet facility at least once during
last twelve months. Urban sector, where the facilities are
largely available, shows highest usage of both e-mail and
internet among the other sectors.
Table 8: Percentage distribution of Internet and E-mail
using household population (aged 5 – 69 years) by District
– 2015 (during 1st 6 months).
Household Population (age 5-69)
Internet (%)
Sri Lanka
Colombo
Gampaha
Kalutara
Kandy
Matale
Nuwara Eliya
Galle
Matara
Hambantota
Jaffna
Mannar
Vavunia
Mulativu
Kilinochchi
Batticaloa
Ampara
Trincomalee
Kurunegala
Puttalam
Anuradhapura
Polonnaruwa
Badulla
Monaragala
Ratnapura
Kegalle
E-mail (%)
11.8
27.6
18.1
13.3
11.5
7.8
2.9
10.3
6.8
6.0
16.9
9.0
18.3
2.6
5.0
8.2
6.8
6.5
8.2
14.0
8.0
4.8
2.9
4.2
5.8
5.6
11.8
4.1
19.6
27.2
25.9
17.2
14.3
9.9
6.3
3.3
8.8
1.7
12.8
21.7
20.8
13.4
11.5
7.9
4.7
2.4
The Table 9 and Figure 5 show the high popularity of
e-mail and internet among youth who are in the age group of
15 – 29 years. Among youths in 20 - 24 years age group, one
out of every four persons has used the internet facility at least
once during the last 12 months and the same group shows the
highest usage of e-mail.
8.8
21.2
13.6
10.5
9.7
6.0
3.0
6.8
5.2
3.5
11.5
7.3
7.4
2.6
6.5
5.5
4.4
5.6
6.2
8.4
4.2
3.8
2.9
2.1
5.3
4.2
Figure 5: Percentage distribution of Internet and E-mail
using household population (aged 5 – 69 years) by age
group –2015 (during 1st 6 months).
2.4
60 - 69
3.3
4.7
50 - 59
6.3
7.9
40 - 49
9.9
11.5
35 - 39
Age group
District
E-mail (%)
14.3
13.4
30 - 34
17.2
20.8
25 - 29
25.9
21.7
20 - 24
27.2
12.8
15 - 19
19.6
1.7
5 - 14
4.1
8.8
Sri Lanka
11.8
0
6
12
18
Percentage(%)
Internet
E-mail
Department of Census and Statistics, No. 306/71, Polduwa Road, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka
Telephone +94 11 2147000, Fax +94 11 2147447, Email: [email protected]
Web address: www.statistics.gov.lk
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