Sweden

There were 8,441,718 internet users in Sweden (representing 92.9% of the population) in mid-year 2012 (June 30, 2012), according to Internet World Stats. (Internet World Stats, October 2012)

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Of Europe's 372 million unique visitors, Sweden accounted for 6.2 million unique visitors during August 2011, according to comScore. Users in Sweden spent an average of 24.0 hours online in the past month, consuming 2,406 pages online. (comScore, October 2011)

Access

93% of the Swedish population aged 16-74 had access to the internet at home in the spring of 2011, according to a Statistics Sweden research entitled "Use of computers and the Internet by private persons in 2011". This was up from 79% in 2004.

Almost nine out of ten persons use the internet each day or at least once a week. This is an increase of 12 percentage points since 2004. The share has increased in all age groups. Almost everyone was using the internet regularly among young adults and middle aged individuals. Senior citizens use the internet less frequently than the other age groups. However, as internet usage has increased the differences between age groups have decreased.

The level of education highly affects internet usage. Individuals with a higher level of education use the internet more frequently. In particular, the people with the lowest level of education used the internet least frequently. There are no big differences between sexes for any of the educational groups. (Statistics Sweden, January 2012)

 

UGC and Social Media

54% of individuals aged 16-74 years old (or 3,725,800 people) in Sweden used the internet to participate in social networks during the first quarter of 2011, according to a Statistics Sweden research entitled "Use of computers and the Internet by private persons in 2011". The percentage reached 57% among women and 50% among men. (Statistics Sweden, January 2012)

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Over 90% of all young people between ages 16 and 24 in Sweden take part in social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter, according to Statistics Sweden. Young men and women take part to nearly the same extent, 93% of the women and 95% of the men.

The percentage of those who take part in social network sites decreases relatively with increasing age.  In most of the age groups, women take part to a greater degree than men.  The difference is largest in the 45-54 age group, where 52% of the women take part in social network sites, while only 30% of the men do so. In the oldest age group of 65-74, 14% take part. Only a slightly higher percentage of women take part than men do in this age group.

Regarding professional network sites such as LinkedIn, a higher percentage of men than women take part. 10% of all people aged 16-74 take part in professional networks. 7% of the women and 14% of the men take part. (Statistics Sweden, October 2011)

 

eCommerce

53% of individuals aged 16-74 years old in Sweden bought or ordered goods or services online during the first quarter of 2011, according to a Statistics Sweden research entitled "Use of computers and the Internet by private persons in 2011". The percentage reached 54% among men and 52% among women.

People aged 25-34 (71%) are the most likely to shop online, while senior citizens are the least likely to do so (24%).

The types of goods bought online are related to both gender and household income. Women are more likely to buy clothes and sporting goods, while men are more likely to buy electronic equipment and computer software. High household incomes are more likely to buy online than those on low incomes. (Statistics Sweden, January 2012)

Online travel market

Travel planning

49% of individuals aged 16-74 (or 3,423,800) in Sweden used the internet for travel and accommodation related services in the first quarter of 2011, according to a Statistics Sweden research entitled "Use of computers and the Internet by private persons in 2011". The percentage reached 50% among men and 48% among women.  (Statistics Sweden, January 2012)

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@Sweden hands over the official Swedish Twitter account to one of its citizens for a week. The social public engagement project, called Curators of Sweden, was devised by the Swedish Institute and VisitSweden, both part of NSU, the National Board for the promotion of Sweden.

Thomas Brühl, CEO of the country's tourism agency VisitSweden who has been updating the account since January 2009 believes that no one owns the brand of Sweden more than its people. With this initiative VisitSweden lets them show their Sweden to the world.

The core vision of the project, of course, is to promote Sweden and engage the world in a contemporary view of its people. The site explains that in an age of mass communication and increasing globalization, a country depends largely on how it is perceived abroad...Sweden's development and future prosperity depend on strong relations with the outside world and a more active exchange with other countries in many areas. Using Twitter, the expectation is that the curators will paint a picture of Sweden, different to that usually obtained through traditional media.

The discussion generated made @Sweden one of the top trending tweet streams with thousands of comments and a 50% increase in followers in two days. (brandchannel, December 2011)

Travel booking

31% of individuals aged 16-74 years old (or 2,136,300 people) in Sweden bought or ordered holiday accommodation online during the period April 2010-March 2011, according to a Statistics Sweden research entitled "Use of computers and the Internet by private persons in 2011". The percentage reached 32% among men and 29% among women.

In addition, 39% indicated to have bought other travel arrangements (such as transport tickets, car rental, etc.) online. (Statistics Sweden, January 2012)

 

87% of people aged 16-74 in Sweden had access to the internet at home via a broadband connection in the spring of 2011, according to a Statistics Sweden research entitled "Use of computers and the Internet by private persons in 2011". (Statistics Sweden, January 2012)

Mobile Devices

Mobile / Smartphones

Smartphones accounted for 68% of mobile phones in Sweden as of November 2012, up from 49% the previous year, according to a survey by Telenor Sweden.

Overall, Telenor Sweden found that 84% of respondents had a phone with internet access. This increased mobile internet penetration is leading to new behaviours: In the first year that Telenor Sweden has tracked Instagram usage, already 17% of consumers in Sweden with mobile phones reported having it. (eMarketer, January 2013)

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Almost 60% of people between the ages of 16 and 74 in Sweden used a smartphone or mobile phone to connect to the internet during the first quarter of 2012, while 46% used a laptop and 14% used a tablet computer, according to Statistics Sweden.

A higher proportion of men than women used mobile internet connections outside the home or workplace, regardless of device.

In general, the use of mobile connections to the internet decreases with age. An exception is that the use of tablet computers was greatest among ages 25-34 and 35-44 years. Smartphones were used to connect to the internet by 84% of people aged 16-24. The corresponding proportion for the age group 65-75 years is 18%. Laptop use differs depending on both age and gender. A greater proportion of women in the younger age groups use laptops for mobile internet connections than men in the same groups. (Statistics Sweden, October 2012)