Digital Divide Narrows for Latinos as More Spanish Speakers and Immigrants Go Online

The long-standing digital divide in Internet use between Latinos and whites is now at its narrowest point since 2009 as immigrant Latinos and Spanish-dominant Latinos make big strides in going online, according to newly released results from Pew Research Center’s 2015 National Survey of Latinos. Meanwhile, broadband use among Latinos is little changed since 2010.

The story of technological adoption among Latinos has long been a unique one. While Latinos have lagged other groups in accessing the Internet and having broadband at home, they have been among the most likely to own a smartphone, to live in a household without a landline phone where only a cellphone is available and to access the Internet from a mobile device. Since 2009, the share of Latino adults who report using the Internet increased 20 percentage points, up from 64% then to 84% in 2015. Over the same period, Internet use among whites grew too, though at a slower rate, moving from 80% to 89%. As a result, the gap in Internet use between Latinos and whites declined from 16 percentage points in 2009 to 5 percentage points in 2015.