The United States Now Has Two Computers for Every Five People
December 16, 1996 - The increase in computer usage has been phenomenal in the last 20 years. The computers per capita table 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 nine-fold. Then came the PC. In the following ten years, from 1975 to 1985, the computer density grew 100-fold as the computers per capita zoomed to 9 per 100 people! In the next ten years, the computers per capita grew four-fold to 36.5 computers per 100 people. At year-end 1996, there are 40 computers per 100 people in the U.S. with PCs accounting for 38 of these or over 95% of the total computers in use.
| Year-End | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1989 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1997 | 2000 |
| Computers in Use: US (#M) | 0.2 | 3.3 | 21.5 | 48 | 62 | 68 | 77 | 86 | 96 | 117 | 160 |
| US Computers per 1,000 People | 0.9 | 14 | 90 | 192 | 245 | 267 | 297 | 329 | 365 | 433 | 580 |
| Computers in Use: Worldwide (#M) | 0.3 | 5.2 | 38 | 97 | 137 | 159 | 187 | 219 | 257 | 338 | 557 |
| Computers per 1,000 People: WW | 0.07 | 1.2 | 7.8 | 18.5 | 25.3 | 29.1 | 33.7 | 38.8 | 44.9 | 57.0 | 90.3 |
The computer density will continue to grow strongly in the 1990s. Currently the computer density per 100 people increases by about 3.5 units per year in the U.S. This trend will put the computers per capita at 55 to 60 per 100 people by year-end 2000. If the emerging application-specific computers such as NCs, WebTVs and information appliances are moderately successful, the computers per capita will hit the 55 range by the 21st century. If these inexpensive and easy-to-use computers really take off and speech recognition and virtual reality live up to expectations, the computer density could even approach 60 to 70 per 100 people when the 21st century begins.
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