New Zealand in the OECD

This part of New Zealand in the OECD included errors in reported Internet subscriber numbers. The reported figures for 2003 were actually numbers of Internet users not subscribers.
The corrected data is incorporated below in the text and tables but not in the printed versions. Statistics New Zealand apologises for the error

Computer access

Access to computers and the Internet varies widely among OECD nations, with New Zealand placed around the middle of the rankings on most indicators.

In 2003, New Zealand ranked fifteenth in the OECD in the number of personal computers per capita, with 41.4 computers for every 100 people. This is slightly higher than the OECD average of 37.5 and similar to figures for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Although New Zealand has experienced rapid growth in the number of personal computers, it still ranked below Switzerland where there were 70.9 computers for every 100 people. 

Websites per capita

New Zealand ranked twelfth in the number of websites per capita in 2003, with 15.3 sites per 1,000 people, up from 10.5 two years earlier. The 2003 figure was similar to that for Australia, but less than half the OECD average of 31.4 and well below the figures in the United States, Canada and some western European countries.

Internet access

Access to the Internet has also grown in most OECD countries. The number of New Zealanders subscribing to the Internet increased from 12.6 percent in 1999 to 24.0 percent in 2003. This was above the OECD average of 22.4 percent in 2003, but below the highest rate in Portugal, where 69.0 people in every 100 were Internet subscribers.