Internet is already available in 90.0% of households in the country in 2021

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• The Internet reaches 90.0% of households in the country in 2021, which is 6 percentage points more (pp) compared to 2019, when 84.0% of households had access to a large network.
• In rural areas, the share of households with Internet access increased from 57.8% to 74.7% between 2019 and 2021, while in urban areas it increased from 88.1% to 92.3%.
• In 2021, mobile phones were the main device for accessing the Internet at home, and were used in 99.5% of households with access to a large network. Then TV, the main device for accessing the Internet in 44.4% of households, surpassed the computer for the first time (42.2%).
• In 2021, more than half of the elderly accessed the Internet for the first time in the PNAD ICT reference period. The percentage of internet use by people aged 60 and over jumped from 44.8% to 57.5% between 2019 and 2021.
• The use of mobile internet for voice or video calls (95.7%) surpassed the use of text, voice or images (94.9%), the most common use by 2019 (95.8%).
• From 2019 to 2021, the number of households with a TV in the country increased from 68.4 million to 69.6 million. However, the share of households with a TV dropped from 96.2% to 95.5% of the total number.
• The percentage of households in the country with access to pay TV fell from 30.3% to 27.8%, but in rural areas it increased from 16.4% to 17.8%.
• From 2019 to 2021, the percentage of households with an Internet connection via mobile broadband fell from 81.2% to 79.2%, while the percentage with fixed broadband increased from 78.0% to 83.5%.
• In 2021, 1.5 million households in the country (or 2.2% of the total number) did not have any of the three forms of access to digital television (converter, satellite dish or subscription), and 80.6% of them were in urban environments.

For the first time since 2016, there has been a significant change in the ranking of the devices most often used in Brazilian households to access the Internet. In 2021, mobile phones were still the main devices for accessing the Internet in 99.5% of households. In second place, for the first time, television now appears, the most used access option in 44.4% of households, which is 12.1 percentage points more than in 2019 (32.3%). The use of microcomputers fell from 45.2% to 42.2% and is in third place. The tablet rounds off the list, which fell from 12.1% to 9.9% of households in that period.

“Between 2019 and 2021, there was a decline in internet access via microcomputers and tablets, but we have already seen an increase in access via television by more than 10 percentage points. Analyzing the series since 2016, we have seen a slight increase in mobile access, a decrease in PC use from 57.2% to 42.2% and tablet use from 17.8% to 9.9%. TV, on the other hand, grew from 11.7% in 2016 to 44.4%. The income of these households was higher among those who used a tablet, R$ 3 thousand; compared to 2,296 BRL for those who use a microcomputer, 1,985 BRL for those who access via TV, and the lowest income, 1,480 BRL, is for those who access via cell phone,” emphasizes research analyst Flávia Vinhaes.

The data, released today (16) by IBGE, comes from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Module surveyed in the fourth quarter visits of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), which covers household Internet and television access and Internet access and possession of mobile phones by persons aged 10 and over. The most recent comparisons are between 2019 and 2021, as this research module was not launched in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Another highlight is that from 2019 to 2021, the percentage of households with an Internet connection via mobile broadband fell from 81.2% to 79.2%, while the percentage with a fixed broadband connection increased from 78.0% to 83.5% .

“For the first time in a row, fixed broadband is outstripping mobile broadband, which has fallen, while fixed broadband has grown more significantly. The increase in the use of fixed broadband Internet can be related to the pandemic, a period in which people had to maintain isolation, stay at home, due to which mobile broadband access was less and less used. Another reason could be the expansion of access in the northern region, where the percentage of households with fixed broadband access has grown significantly, rising from 54.7% in 2019 to 70.5% in 2021,” Flávia analyzes.

In 2021, among the 183.9 million people aged 10 and over in the country, 84.7% used the Internet in the PNAD ICT reference period. This percentage was higher among students: 90.3%, 98.2% for those in the private network and 87.0% for the state education network.

The percentage of households with a TV in the country is falling

From 2019 to 2021, the number of households with a TV in the country increased from 68.4 million to 69.6 million. However, there was a slight decrease in the share of households with a TV: from 96.2% to 95.5% of the total number of households in the country. This behavior was observed in all major regions, with the largest decrease in percentages in the Northeast: from 94.6% to 93.4%.

Average real earnings per capita in households that had a television (R$1,453) it was equivalent to almost double the income in households without a TV (R$830).

In 2021, 96.2% of urban and 90.8% of rural households had a TV.

A converter for digital TV is already present in more than 90% of homes

In 2021, there were 63.3 million households with a set-top box TV, equivalent to 90.9% of households with a television in the country.

From 2019 to 2021, this share grew in urban areas (92.6% to 92.9%) and, more intensively, in rural areas (71.9% to 76.6%).

The use of pay-TV is declining in urban areas and increasing in rural areas

In 2021, 27.8% of households with a television had access to pay-TV services, a share of 29.2% in urban areas and 17.8% in rural areas. In Brazil, the percentage of households with pay-TV decreased, except in rural areas, where the percentage was 16.4% in 2019.

In households without access to pay-TV service, 43.5% did not have it because they thought it was expensive, and 45.6% because they were not interested in the service. There were 8.7% of those who did not have the service because video materials (including programs, movies or series) are available online, while only 1.2% of those who did not have it because it was not available in the area where the household is located .

A satellite dish was found in almost 16 million homes

About 22.6% of households in the country (or 15.7 million) had TV signal reception via a satellite dish, of which 56.1% were in rural areas and 17.8% in urban areas.

average income per capita in households with satellite dishes (R$1075) represented 46.0% of this income in households with access to pay-TV service (R$2336).

Almost 60% of the elderly already have access to the Internet

The share of people aged 10 and over who accessed the Internet in the PNAD ICT reference period increased from 79.5% to 84.7% from 2019 to 2021. In all age groups, the shares of use increased. The group from 25 to 29 years old has the highest percentage of use: 94.5%, but all age groups from 14 to 49 years old have percentages above 90%.

Proportionally, the age group of 60 and over accesses the Internet the least, but from 2019 to 2021, the percentage of use by older people increased the most: from 44.8% to 57.5%, which is as much as 12.7 percent. points, exceeding 50% for the first time. In the age group from 50 to 59, this percentage also increased significantly: from 74.4% to 83.3%.

Internet usage for voice or video calls outpaces text messaging usage

Also, for the first time since the historic series began, more people used the Internet to chat via voice or video calls (95.7%) than to send or receive text, voice or picture messages through applications other than email. (94.9) %), which was the most common purpose until 2019. Watching videos, including programs, series and movies (89.1%) and sending or receiving e-mails (62%) complete the list.

While 84.2% of students from the private network used the Internet to send or receive e-mail, among students from the public network this percentage is 55.0%. Still, among those on the public network in 2021, the main purpose of using the Internet was to watch videos, including programs, series and movies (94.1%), while among students on the private network the highest percentage was for the purpose of chatting via voice or video calls (97.2%).

In 2021, 28.7 million people did not have a mobile phone for personal use, which represents 15.6% of the population aged 10 and over. Of that number, 28.1% claim that the phone is expensive.

The number of households with fixed telephones continues to fall

The share of households with a fixed telephone in the country was 15.6 percent, with a decrease of 7.5 percentage points compared to 2019 (23.1 percent). This downward trend was also recorded in all regions of the country. The rate of households that had a mobile phone (96.3%) increased compared to 2019 (94.4%).

Average real earnings per capita the share of households without a telephone was significantly lower than the share of households with a telephone. In the country, in 2021, the income in households that did not have a telephone (R$700) represented 48.4% of the income in those with a telephone (R$1445). For those with a conventional fixed line, the average income was 2,432 BRL, while for those with a mobile phone, that income was 1,444 BRL.

The share of households with a microcomputer is decreasing

From 2019 to 2021, the share of households with a microcomputer fell from 41.4% to 40.7%. In urban areas, this percentage fell from 45.6% to 44.9%, and in rural areas it decreased from 13.8% to 12.8%. In that period, the share of households with a tablet dropped from 11.6% to 9.9%.

The average income of households without a microcomputer or tablet was R$835, and R$2172 in households with at least one of these devices.