【正确答案】The figures show the percentage of Australians with Internet connections-both broadband and dial-up-in recent years and the popularity of Internet usage among different age groups. From the charts it can be ascertained that more and more people gained access to the Internet between 1998 and 2006 and at the end of this period more people switched to broadband. In addition, though distribution of Internet usage among different age groups remained almost the same, there was an increase in usage in all groups.
More specifically, though there was a consistent 10% gap between urban centre dwellers and those who live outside metropolitan areas, the percentages of people who enjoyed access to the Internet in both groups climbed steadily between 1998 and 2006. The percentage of the former with Internet connections rose from just under 25% to about 70%, while for the latter the increase was from approximately 15% to just under 60%. Not surprisingly, dial-up and broadband connections show an inverse relationship. Between 2004/5 and 2006/7 the percentage of Australians with broadband soared from 15% to around 45%, while the percentage with dial-up shrank from just under 40% to just under 20%. Turning to usage by age, it can be seen that the Internet was most popular with Australians aged under 44, though the figures for the 18-24 and 35-44 age groups were slightly higher than for the 25-34 range. More than 60% of people in these age groups accessed the Internet 2004/5. Usage declined with age, but even in the 75+ group, about 10% went online. Along with the general growth in Internet popularity, there was a 10% increase in the usage by each age group, except the eldest, from 2004/5 to 2006/7.