December 2000 Fraser Forum:
December Questions & Answers and December Graph
Q: How do internet connectedness and online purchases in Canada compare to other countries?
A: Canada is well connected compared to other countries: 42.8 percent of the population is online, second only to Sweden at 44.3 percent. Of the countries with information about the percentage of internet users who have purchased a product or service online, France has the lowest percentage at 15, Canada is in the middle at 33, and the US is the highest at 56. See table 1 for country-specific connectedness and online purchase data.
|
Table 1: International Connectedness & On-line Purchases, 1999-2000 |
|||
|
Percentage of population |
Percentage of internet users who have purchased a product or service directly on-line, March 2000 |
Percentage of population who are internet users and have |
|
|
United States |
39.4 |
56.0 |
22.1 |
|
Sweden |
44.3 |
35.0 |
15.5 |
|
Canada |
42.8 |
33.0 |
14.1 |
|
Australia |
36.4 |
34.0 |
12.4 |
|
Finland* |
38.0 |
29.0 |
11.0 |
|
United Kingdom |
23.6 |
42.0 |
9.9 |
|
Germany |
15.0 |
51.0 |
7.7 |
|
Japan |
15.5 |
29.0 |
4.5 |
|
Italy |
15.9 |
20.0 |
3.2 |
|
France |
12.9 |
15.0 |
1.9 |
|
Sources: Nua Internet Surveys, 2000; Angus Reid Interactive, The Face of
The Web, Wave One, 2000; calculations by the author. |
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Q: What is e-commerce? How large is e-commerce in Canada? How does this compare to the rest of the world?
A: E-commerce is broadly defined as the purchase or trade of goods and services via the internet and world wide web. A specific example of this is buying and downloading data or software by entering credit card information on a vendor’s web site. In 1999, e-commerce in Canada was $11.5 billion (all figures in Canadian dollars) which represented 5.9 percent of the worldwide total.
Q: How large is e-commerce worldwide? How fast is it growing?
A: In 1999, e-commerce was $195 billion. It is expected that by 2004, it will be $3.9 trillion. This translates to an average annual growth rate of 380 percent. This month’s graph shows Canada’s and several other countries’ shares of worldwide e-commerce in 1999 and what this is projected to be in 2004.
Q: What is the distinction, if any, between the internet and the world wide web? Could you define some of the terms we frequently hear, such as modem, ISP, HTTP, and HTML?
A: The internet is a global network connecting millions of computers. By
1999, the internet had more than 200 million users worldwide, a number
that continues to grow rapidly. More than 100 countries are linked into
exchanges of data, news and opinions. The internet is decentralized by
design. Each internet computer, called a host, is independent. Its operators
can choose which internet services to use and which local services to make
available to the global internet community. The world wide web is a system
of internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents
are formatted in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) that supports links to
other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files. Not all internet
servers are part of the world wide web.
Modem is an acronym for modulator-demodulator.
A modem is a device or program that enables a computer to transmit data
over telephone lines. Computer information is stored digitally, whereas
information transmitted over telephone lines is transmitted in the form
of analog waves. A modem converts between these two forms.
ISP is short
for Internet Service Provider, a company that provides access to the internet.
For a monthly fee, the service provider gives you a software package, a
user name, password, and access phone number. Equipped with a modem, you
can then connect to the internet and browse the world wide web and send
and receive e-mail.
HTTP is short for HyperText Transfer Protocol, the underlying
format used by the world wide web. HTTP defines how messages are formatted
and transmitted, and what actions web servers and browsers should take
in response to various commands.
HTML is the authoring language used to create documents on the world wide web. HTML defines the structure and layout of a web document.
Much of the information in these answers comes directly from the Webopedia homepage at http://webopedia.internet.com/
December Graph
World Internet Commerce—1999
World Internet Commerce—2004 (estimate)
*ROW = Rest of World.
Source: International Data Corporation, 2000.
Joel Emes (joele@fraserinstitute.ca) is Senior Research Economist at The Fraser Institute. He has an M.A. in Economics from Simon Fraser University.
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