A recent study by the Census and Statistics Department has revealed that one out of every four households in Sri Lanka owns a computer, and 27 per cent of its population was computer literate.
The study conducted over a period of several years has found that within a span of five years, from 2009 to 2015, the computer owned households have grown more than two fold from 11.4 per cent to 24.4 per cent. Further, 57.3 per cent of the households have acquired the first computer within the last five years. According to the Department, the households with either a desktop or a laptop were enumerated in the survey as ‘households owning a computer’. The criteria to measure computer literacy was the ability to use a computer without assistance, hence even a five year old with the ability to play a computer game unassisted had been included as computer literate in the survey.
The Department used a nationally distributed sample of 25,000 households and persons aged 5 to 69 years for the survey.
The survey recorded the highest computer literacy rate of 70 per cent among those educated beyond GCE Advanced level while those who are literate in English also had a higher computer literacy (69.5%). As an age group, 15-19 years were found to be the most computer literate (58.7%) against others. While 14 per cent of 5-9 year olds had the ability of use a computer unassisted only 6 per cent between 60-69 years were computer literate. Shockingly, the Clerks and Clerical support workers accounted for 88% computer literacy as against the professionals (84%), and senior officials & legislators (71%).
The survey had also exposed the digital divide between the urban, rural and estate sectors. It has been very conspicuous with urban sector having the highest number of households with computers (41.5%) and the highest computer literacy rate (39.2%), while the estate sector accounted for the lowest at 4.5 per cent households and 9 per cent with computer literacy.