According to statements made by the Russian Minister of Information Technologies and Communications, Leonid Reiman, the number of Internet users in Russia increased by 18% in 2005, rising to 21.8 million. With a total population of approximately 150 million, penetration rate of the Internet is still relatively low, which the minister partially blamed on the low number of people owning a PC. A higher growth rate of Internet users is expected for 2006, mainly due to a growing economy. The minister also stated that the government will be moving forward this year with programs aimed at connecting all schools to the Internet, with a special focus and poor and remote areas of the country.