HONG KONG, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- About 1.7 million households, or74.6 percent of all Hong Kong homes, had personal computers in 2008, maintaining the city's position as one of the world's digital capitals, the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong said Thursday.

    Of the households with PCs, 1.6 million, or 95.1 percent, had their systems connected to the Internet, representing 70.9 percent of all Hong Kong households.

    The department conducted two surveys on the usage and penetration of information technology in Hong Kong homes and businesses from May to September 2008.

    About 4.2 million of people aged 10 and over, or 68.2 percent of all people in that age group, had used PCs at least once in the year before the survey, and 2.4 million people aged 10 and over, or 39.1 percent of that age group, had used online Government services to handle personal matters.

    IT usage in the business sector has stabilized in recent years. The percentage of establishments using PCs was 63.1 percent in 2008, representing a marginal fall of 0.7 of a percentage point on a year earlier.

    Meanwhile, the percentage of establishments having an Internet connection was 58.8 percent. The corresponding figure in 2007 was 59.8 percent.