More than 70 percent of Hong Kong households have a personal computer connected to the Internet, strengthening the city's status as one of the world's leading digital hubs, an official survey released Thursday indicated.

Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department said that the figure represents a slight rise on last year when 71.7 percent of households had a computer and 67.1 percent had it connected to the Internet.

The survey conducted in mid-2007 found 1,671,600 households, or 74.2 percent of all domestic premises in Hong Kong, had a personal computer. Of them, 94.5 percent had their computers connected to the Internet, representing 70.1 percent of the city's households.

About 66.4 percent of people aged 10 and over had used personal computers at least once and 64.8 percent had used the Internet.

Utilization of electronic business services in the city was also high. About 98.2 percent of people aged 15 and over had used electronic business services, a slight rise on last year's 97.4 percent. About 10.1 percent of that age group had used on-line purchasing services, according to the survey.

(Xinhua News Agency, December 7, 2007)