Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the rate of usage of Information Technology (IT) in the business sector stood at 46% in 2009, down by 1 percentage point from 2008. Analyzed by industry, usage of IT has been fully adopted in the Gaming Sector, and that of Travel Agencies and the Service Sector reached 98% and 82% respectively, while the Restaurant Sector had a lower rate of 32%. In addition, rate of IT usage of Hotel (70%) and Construction (67%) Sectors both went up 6 percentage points year-on-year. Analyzed by size of establishment or enterprise, rate of IT usage of the large establishments or enterprises with 100 or more persons reached 99%, while the usage rate of those with less than 10 persons was 40%. With regard to Internet usage, 82% of the establishments or enterprises using IT had Internet connection and the major purposes of accessing the Internet included information search (40%), purchasing (16%) and sales (14%). In 2009, about 79% of the households in Macao possessed IT equipment such as computers, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), etc., up by 3 percentage points over 2008. Rate of computer and internet usage for male aged 3 or above was 60% and 57% respectively; however, the rates for female were lower, at 53% and 51%. Analyzed by age group, the rate of computer (95%) and Internet usage (94%) were highest among those aged 15-24, both rates increased by 5 percentage points over 2008. Analyzed by educational attainment, the rate of computer and Internet usage for those with tertiary education was 92% and 90% respectively, both up by 4 percentage points year-on-year. In respect of the location of accessing the Internet, the majority were at home (93%) or at work place (24%). Major purposes of accessing the Internet included information search (87%), communication (83%) and government services (35%). Data on IT usage in the business sector is obtained from the annual survey on different economic activities and data on IT possession and usage of the households are collected by using a supplementary questionnaire in the Employment Survey, covering all individuals aged 3 or above. Respective data on IT usage facilitate a better understanding of the popularity and development of IT in the community.
