Online Population of Belarus

A study released by the Belarusian embassy to the United States found there are 100,000 Internet users in Belarus (about 1 percent of the overall population), a threefold increase over 1999.

The number of e-tailers increased almost 20-fold since 1999, the study found. Most Belarusian Internet users live in the capital city of Minsk, and are likely to be men between the ages of 14 and 30. Persons over 30 and under 14 represented less than 20 percent of all users.

University and college students represent the largest group of Internet users (39.1 percent) and are followed by professionals (29.7 percent), school students (13.6 percent), entrepreneurs, businessmen and managers (5.0 percent), factory workers (2.7 percent), not currently employed (0.7 percent), housewives (0.6 percent) and retired (0.4 percent).

An average Internet session by a Belarusian user is less than one hour for 75.7 percent of the users. Slightly more than 7 percent connect for more than three hours. More than 80 percent of Belarusian users connect to the Internet regularly (not less than 2 or 3 times a week) and 3.1 percent connect less than once a month.

Forty-two percent of Internet users who are employed work in IT and/or related industries. Fifty-eight percent of the Belarusian Internet users go online from home, while 32 percent go online at work or at university/school. More than 7 percent use another person’s service, and 2.3 use Internet cafes or other public access. Three-quarters of users in Belarus speak English (76.5 percent). The study showed that 30.2 percent of Internet users had shopped online with 19.9 percent of users reporting they were satisfied with this experience.