The Department of Census and Statistics has released information from the latest survey on computer literacy in Sri Lanka conducted during first six months of 2017.

Director General Dr. Amara Satharasinghe said that computer literacy rate among those in the age group of aged 5-69 years of Sri Lanka has been estimated as 28.3 percent.

The urban sector reported the highest computer literacy rate of 41.1 percent among residential sectors while computer literacy rates of rural and estate sectors are 26.5 percent and 9.5 percent respectively.

According to the findings of the survey, the computer literacy among male is 30.7 percent, which is higher than that of female (26.1%).

Comparing the all the age groups, those in the age between 15 – 19 years reported the highest computer literacy rate of 60.7 percent. Among educational levels, the highest computer literacy rate 71.2 percent is reported for the G.C.E. (A/L) or above level of education. The survey results further reveal that the computer literacy is very high (71.1%) among those who are literate in English language.

Digital Literacy is newly introduced indicator for Sri Lanka and a person (aged 5-69) is considered as a digital literate person if he/she could use computer, lap top, tablet or smartphone on his/ her own. At national level, digital literacy has been estimated as 38.7 percent and for males and females 42.5 percent and 35.2 percent respectively. Digital literacy for Urban sector is 54.5 percent while for Rural and Estate sectors it has been 36.4 percent and 16.4 percent respectively.

Dr. Amara Satharasinghe Director General of DCS further said that across districts the highest percentage (44.6%) of population using internet was reported from Colombo district while Badulla district shows the lowest percentage of 4.9 percent.

Further information on the survey can be accessed on: www.statistics.gov.lk.