As was announced today in Berlin by the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), for the first time in 2006 three out of four German households were equipped with a personal computer thereby bringing Germany into fourth place among EU member states.
The figures provided by the Eurostat European statistical office show that in 2006 most households equipped with personal computers were to be found in Denmark (85%) followed by Sweden (82%), the Netherlands (80%), Germany (77%) and Luxembourg (77%). The EU average was 62%. Computers are less common in Greece and the Czech Republic where only on third of all households have a personal computer.
The favorite activity carried out by means of a computer remains shopping. In the course of a survey carried out on behalf of BITKOM 61% of German PC users said that they use their computer for shopping. Second came travel booking and listening to music (about 44% each). According to BITCOM over the coming years internet television is going to become a third crowd-puller. Currently one third of all households are already equipped with a suitable wide-band internet access. 