MOSCOW, June 7 (RIA Novosti) - Almost half (47%) of all Russian residents use mobile telephones, according to a survey conducted by the ROMIR monitoring holding company.
The number of cellular phone-owners in Russia is growing rapidly, from one fourth of the population in February 2004 to 31%-32% last June to 40% in January 2005. The poll has shown that 51% are male users and 49% are women.
Half of all the mobile phone holders are young people from 18 to 34 years of age and merely 6% are elderly people (above 60 years of age).
Characteristically, the share of users with an elementary or incomplete secondary education does not exceed 3%.
The study has also revealed that more than half of all users (53%) consider their income to be high, 37% treat it as medium and only 10% call it low.
The geographical distribution is as follows: every fourth subscriber (25%) lives in the Central federal district, 19% in the South district and 19% in the Volga district, every tenth in Siberia (12%), the Urals (10%) or the North-Western district (9%). The Far Eastern users account for 5% of all "mobile" Russians.
The ROMIR monitoring survey was carried out last April among 1,600 respondents within the age bracket of 18 and older, in more than 100 cities and towns of Russia. The maximal statistical error does not exceed 3%.
