Hispanics are less likely than other demographic groups to access the internet, while whites continue to be more connected than anyone else, according to new data from internet research company eMarketer.
In 2017, less than 80 percent of Hispanics in the U.S. will access the internet at least once a month from any device compared with 85 percent of whites, thanks to socio-economic factors, as well as education. In general, the less educated and economically advantaged a person is, the less likely they are to use the internet, according to eMarketer. The disparity has lessened over time but is still prominent as the internet becomes increasingly integral to daily life.
Hispanics have lower rates of internet usage despite being early adopters of smartphones; 67.1 percent of Hispanics will be smartphone users this year, about the same as the U.S. population at large, according to eMarketer. For Hispanics, however, smartphones are more likely to be the only source of home internet, with 23 percent of the Hispanic population in the U.S. using smartphones as their sole home broadband source versus 15 percent of blacks and 9 percent of whites.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
