Internet use among African-Americans is rising

Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that the percentage of African-Americans using the Internet in December 2008 has been recorded as increased to 64% against 56% in December 2007. On contrary, Internet usage rate among the whole US population in December 2008 had fallen to 74% from 75% observed in December 2007. 

As the source shows, the proportion of African-Americans using the Internet in December 2008 has increased by 22 percentage points from December 2000, while the whole US population’s usage increased by 21 percentage points. Moreover, Harris Interactive noted that African-Americans made 11% of US Internet users in November 2008. 

To make the numbers clearer, it should be brought that according to the projections of the US Census Bureau the American population will reach 439 million in 2050 with non-Hispanic whites making 46% (203.3 million), Hispanics - 30% (132.8 million) and African-Americans only 15% (65.7 million). 

Considering the estimated 2050 Internet penetration rate at 75%, there will be over 49 million African-Americans online in 2050, which makes about twice as much as forecasted for 2008 (26 million).

Source: eMarketer