In Mexico Women Have More Internet Access than Men

By the end of 2023, women closed one of the main inequality gaps by surpassing men in internet usage for the first time since records began, according to the 2023 National Survey on Availability and Use of Information Technologies in Households (ENDUTIH by its Spanish acronym).

The survey, conducted jointly by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography and the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (FIT) between June and August 2023, revealed that 81.4 percent of women reported using the internet, compared to 81 percent of men, marking a 0.4 percent increase for women.

This figure is significant because, in Mexico, 97 million people use the internet, representing 81.2 percent of the population aged six and older. This is an increase of 3.9 million users compared to 2022.

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Graciela Márquez Colín, president of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, noted that “one of the major achievements is the elimination of the gender gap. The fact that 81.4 percent of women use the internet, 0.4 percent more than men, is a small difference, but this is the first time that the percentage of female users at the national level is higher than that of men.”

She pointed out that, in comparison to 2020, the gap between men and women was 1.5 percent, a gap that has now disappeared and been surpassed by women, particularly in the 18 to 54 age range, with usage rates between 83 and 92.6 percent.

Susana Pérez Cadena, Director General of Economic Statistics from the same institution , echoed this sentiment, stating, “The difference in internet usage has narrowed. In 2020, the gap was 1.5 percent, with 72.3 percent of men using the internet compared to 70.8 percent of women.”

She acknowledged that while the gap was not very large, the key point is that in 2023, the relationship reversed: 81.4 percent of women use the internet, compared to 81 percent of men, meaning the gap closed and women slightly surpassed men.

When analyzing by age groups, Pérez Cadena noted that differences become more apparent. Girls aged 6 to 11 have shown an increase in the use of new technologies, with 73 percent using the internet, compared to 69.9 percent of boys, a 3.1 percent difference in favor of girls.

At the other end of the spectrum, among people aged 65 and older, the trend reverses, with 41 percent of men using the internet compared to 37.1 percent of women, a difference of 3.9 percent in favor of men.

According to ENDUTIH, the internet is primarily used for communication, social media access, entertainment, information searches, and support for training or education. To a lesser extent, it is used for more complex tasks such as purchasing products, making payments online, conducting banking operations, and internet sales—an area that also needs improvement.

Key figures from the ENDUTIH survey:

• 65,197 people surveyed about the availability and use of technologies in households
• 93% of people use the internet to communicate
• 91.5% use the internet to connect to social media
• 97.2 million people use cell phones
• 155.4 pesos is the average prepaid phone expense, and 439.6 pesos is the average postpaid phone expense
• 88.1% of users use the internet for entertainment
• 27.3% conduct banking transactions online
• 21.8% use cloud services
• 11.8% make sales online
• The FIT called for an analysis of ENDUTIH as a tool for achieving meaningful connectivity.
• Cell phones are the most widely used device by the population.
• Girls aged 6 to 11 surpassed boys in internet use by 3.1 percent.
• Among people aged 65 and older, the trend is reversed, with men continuing to surpass women in internet use.