San Francisco, Mar 19 (EFE).– People in emerging and developing countries believe that the Internet has a positive effect on education, personal relations and the economy, but they feel that its impact on morals is mainly negative, according to a study published Thursday.

The study prepared by the Pew Research Center is based on 36,619 interviews conducted in 32 emerging and developing countries, including Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, as well as Asian and African nations, between March 17 and June 5, 2014.

According to the survey, 64 percent of the respondents said they believe that the Internet has a positive impact on education and more than 50 percent said it has had a favorable influence on personal relationships and the economy.

Despite the advantages of new technologies, however, 42 percent of the interviewees said that the Internet has a negative effect on morals while 29 percent said that its effect in that area was positive.

The Pew Research Center researchers emphasized that in none of the countries included in the survey was there a majority of people who said that the Internet has a positive effect on morality.

The study also emphasizes that many people have been completely left out of the Internet revolution.

In general terms, an average of 44 percent of the population in the 32 countries in the survey use the Internet at least occasionally, whether it be via their mobile telephones or other devices. In the United States, the figure is 87 percent.

Internet access rates vary considerably from country to country, ranging from 76 percent in Chile, 67 percent in Venezuela and 51 percent in Brazil to 28 percent in Senegal, 21 percent in Ghana and 15 percent in Uganda.

The report emphasizes that the nations with the least Internet access are densely populated countries in South and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, where just 24 percent of the population has access to the Web, India with 20 percent, Bangladesh with 11 percent and Pakistan with 8 percent.

Similar differences are observed in the percentage of people who have computers, ranging from 78 percent in Russia to just 3 percent in Uganda.

The study also notes that in countries like Chile and China the use of smartphones is comparable to the use of that device in the United States.

Internet use is highest among people who read or speak English, the study found, and those who access the Web most often are the most educated members of society and people between 18 and 34 years of age. EFE