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2020 CENSUS DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES DATA SHOWS
CNMI leads in computer use; 96.7% of households own a computer
The CNMI leads in computer use as 96.7% of households own a computer, the highest percentage of any U.S. insular area and higher than the U.S. average of 95%, according to the demographic profiles for the 2020 Island Areas Census that the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
The CNMI leads in computer use as 96.7% of households own a computer, the highest percentage of any U.S. insular area and higher than the U.S. average of 95%, according to the demographic profiles for the 2020 Island Areas Census that the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday.
The Census Bureau data also shows that 84% of Marianas households have a broadband internet subscription, which is slightly below the 90% U.S. average.
Computer ownership and internet subscriptions in the CNMI both increased from 2010 to 2020.
Computer ownership went from 56% in 2010 to 96.7% in 2020, while household access to an internet service increased from 44% to 84%.
In Guam, 95% of households own a computer and 85.9% have broadband subscription.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, 91.1% of households own a computer and 79.2% have broadband.
American Samoa has the lowest rate of broadband subscription out of all the Island Areas, with 69% of households there indicating they subscribe to one or more broadband services.
Census data show that 92% of American Samoa households own a computer.
In his e-kilili newsletter over the weekend, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) said the CNMI leading in computer use was made possible by the U.S. Congress, with funds from the American Recovery Reinvestment Act and the annual Title 1 school funding that he helped increase in 2015.
Sablan said over 2,000 Marianas households enrolled in the Emergency Broadband Benefit program that Congress created in response to COVID-19 in 2021.
“The skill and ability to be online is critically important to individual growth and or economy in the 21st century,” the delegate said.
The U.S. Census Bureau conducted the decennial census in partnership with the Island Areas governments in compliance with Title 13 of the U.S. Code and to meet the specific data needs of Island Areas.
