Less than one-third of Mexicans have net access

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO: Less than a third of Mexican people have access to the internet, says a study by the Mexican Internet Association. Of the country's 113 million citizens, just 34.9 million are internet users.

"The growth trends are recovering in terms of internet penetration in Mexico," said association president Mauricio Braverman while presenting the study.

Over the past 10 years, the number of computers in Mexican households has tripled, increasing faster than the number of television sets and automobiles.

Almost half of the internet users go online from their homes, while 39 per cent do so from public places and 19 per cent do so from work. Three out of every five web users are people under age 24.

Participating in online social networks is one of the favourite activities of internet users, with women slightly more inclined to use those services than men.

Six out of every 10 Mexican web users regularly log on to social networking sites, preferring Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Hi5, in that order.

E-mail, instant messaging and accessing photographs and videos comprise the majority of the three-and-a-half hours each day that people devote to internet activities