IT and Society: Russia sees increase in the number of PCs and Net surfers in 2011

In 2011 the number of Russia-based computers has increased and presently totals over 74 million, while most of them – 78% are connected to Internet, the monitoring of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation devoted to socio-economic development of Russia in 2011 reads.

According to the interim analysis, the number of Internet users per 100 people is 4.3% up equaling 49 people.

The preliminary review shows that IT market share in 2011 amounted to 649 billion rubles (106.6% year-on-year).

The sector depended on the income of the population, paying capacity of profit-making organizations, the development pace of related industries (electronics industry).

The hardware market keeps the lion’s share of the IT market – 51.2%. The software market and the services market have 20.4% and 28.4% respectively.

Series of events within the Implementation Plan of the Development Strategy of the Information Society in the Russian Federation were continued in 2011. They promote broader use of ICTs in education, science, public health, culture, establishment of the electronic government, elimination of differences between regions of the Russian Federation based on the information development level. A new edition of the state program of the Russian Federation “Information Society (2011-2020)” has been approved. It preserves key goals and objectives – give citizens and organizations a chance to enjoy advantages of ICTs.