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new study by the Indonesian Communication and Information Ministry and UNICEF says that Yogyakarta is home to more young people using the Internet than Jakarta, while West Papua is at the bottom of the ladder, reflecting low Internet penetration in Indonesia'€™s eastern regions.

The study started in 2011 and involved 43.5 million young people aged between 10 and 19 living across 12 provinces.

The provinces include Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Banten, Lampung, West Sulawesi, Central Kalimantan, Gorontalo, North Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), West Papua, North Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi.

'€œThe proportion of youth accessing the Internet diminishes as we move east,'€ said Gati Gayatri, the head of the center for research, literacy and professional development at the ministry.

The study shows that youths in Yogyakarta have 100 percent access to the Internet, while those in Jakarta and Banten have 97.18 percent and 94.12 percent coverage, respectively.

North Maluku and West Papua have the least access at 30 percent and 28.57 percent, respectively.

'€œAs many as 87 percent of these non-Internet users live in rural areas as well as smaller provinces,'€ Gati went on.

'€œWe have also found non-Internet users in provincial capitals, but the percentage is only 13 percent,'€ she added.

She said the main reason for children not going online was the absence of computer access, followed by the cost of access.

'€œThirty four percent of respondents said they did not use the Internet as they had no access to computers. Next was the cost of Internet access and parents forbidding Internet use, which each received 24 percent,'€ she said.

The study also shows that 23 percent of non-Internet users said the Internet did not exist in their local area.

Meanwhile, the study highlights that 69 percent of Internet users accessed the Internet via personal computers, followed by cell phones and laptops at 52 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

'€œThe children and adolescents used personal computers found not only in the houses and schools, but also those in Internet cafés,'€ Gati pointed out.

The study reveals that 94.3 percent of Internet users connected to the web in locations with hotspot facilities, followed by those who connected at home (86.2 percent) and via mobile devices (73.6 percent).

Social media was the most popular content, with 77 percent of respondents saying they visited such sites within the past 12 months of their Internet usage. Education content was next with 65 percent.

UNICEF country representative Angela Kearney pointed out that the current Internet gap between various youths would narrow as Internet infrastructure was rolled out in rural areas, coupled by falling prices in Internet-enabled devices.

'€œMore and more children are gaining access to cell phones and those cell phones are becoming cheaper,'€ she said.

'€œWe now just have to make sure that children lacking Internet access are not at a disadvantage.'€