The U.S. Now Has One Computer for Every Three People

April 28, 1995 - The increase in computer usage has been phenomenal since the personal computer caught on in the early 1980s. When the PC first appeared in the mid-1970s there was less than one computer per 1,000 people in the U.S. as shown in the table. The computers per capita table clearly shows the explosion in computer usage. In 1965 there was only one computer for each 10,000 people in the United States. In the next ten years, computers per capita increased seven fold. Then came the personal computer. In the following ten years, from 1975 to 1985, the computer density grew an incredible 140-fold as the computers per capita zoomed to 99 per 1,000 people! In the last nine years, the computers per capita “only” grew three-fold to 315 computers per 1,000 people. At year-end 1994 PCs accounted for nearly 300 of the 315 computers per 1,000 people.

	1975	1980	1985	1987	1989	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1997 Proj.
Computers in Use: US	0.2	2.3	25	41	50	61	67	74	82	90	105 to 110
Computers per 1,000 People: US	0.7	10	99	167	202	243	265	288	315	342	390 to 410
PCs per 1,000 People: US	--	8	90	157	192	230	250	272	298	324	365 to 380
Computers in Use: Worldwide	--	4	46	78	103	131	148	173	200	230	290 to 300
Computers per 1,000 People: Worldwide	--	0.9	10	15.5	20	24.5	27	31	35	40	49 to 51

The computer density will continue to grow strongly in the 1990s. Currently the computer density per 1,000 people increases by about 25 units per year in the USA. This indicates that the computers per capita will reach 390 to 410 per 1,000 people by year-end 1997. If multimedia, PDAs and the information superhighway are moderately successful, the computers per capita will hit the 500 range by the end of the decade. If multimedia and the information superhighway really take off and speech recognition and virtual reality live up to expectations. Then the computer density could even approach 600 to 700 per 1,000 people when the 21st century begins.

The Computer Industry Almanac is an annual reference book for and about the computer marketplace. The 1994-95 version (seventh edition) is an 800-page book that is filled with rankings and awards for companies, people and products. A popular chapter is the salary and wealth rankings of the top computer people as well as the average salaries of computer occupations. The 1994-95 CIA has 80 computer market forecast summaries and estimates of the number of computers in use for the main industrialized countries of the world. A technology forecast focusing on the late 1990s reviews the expected advances and product capabilities. There are numerous directories including listings of companies, associations, publications, conferences, research firms and people. For more information see Market Research Reports.