Growth In Internet Usage

The Internet is continuing to spread across the UK according to recent figures from the ONS. In the fourth quarter of 2013 there were 44.3m people who had used the Internet representing 87% of the population. The other 13% who had never accessed the Internet amounted to 6.7m people.

The quarterly increase in numbers using the Internet was 434,000 adults, an increase of 1.2m compared with a year earlier. The number of people who had never used the Internet fell by 321,000 adults since Q3 2013 and 732,000 on a year earlier.

The number of Internet users has increased by 3.1m since the surveys on Internet use started in the LFS in the first quarter of 2011.

Internet Access Continues To Rise

The latest quarterly release about Internet access in the UK suggests that at the first quarter of 2013 86% of the UK population or 43.5m adults, had used the Internet. While the majority of the population have at some time used the Internet there are still some 7.1m adults or 14% of the population who have never used the Internet on the Q4 2012 though the number decreased by 4% or 325,000 people. The demographics of the survey suggest that the elderly and the disabled are less likely to have used the Internet.

Men are more likely to have used the Internet than women with 88% of men being users and 84% of women. Londoners are more likely than any other region to be Internet users with 90% of people in London using the Internet. The region with the lowest percentage of users was Northern Ireland still with 79%.

Disabled people are less likely to use the Internet. According to the definition used in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 32% of disabled people or 3.7m disabled people have never used the Internet. This accounts for over 50% of non-users (53%).

The ONS survey covers people aged 16 and over. The number of Internet users continues to increase with an extra 2.4m added since the survey began.

Internet Access Figures

The key points of the latest internet access statistical bulletin from the ONS were that at Q4 2012 there were 43.07 million adults, or 85% of the population, who had used the Internet at some time. There were still 7.42 million adults (15%) had never used the Internet. That is 3% lower than Q3 2012 and 9% lower than Q4 2011. Men (87%) were more likely to use the Internet than women (83%). The London region had the highest rate of Internet users with 89% while Northern Ireland had the lowest with 79%.

Significant Increase In Broadband Use In Europe

Internet access is continuing to spread across Europe. More than 75% of households in EU27 had acces to the Intrnet in 2012 compared to less than 50% in 2006. More significantly the spread of broadband has reached 72% of household had a broadband connection in 2012 compared with 30% in 2006. In every member state half of households had a broadband connection.

Sending and receiving e-mails is till the most common online activity (89%) along with looking for information about goodsa nd services (83%). Other activities are also widely used: online news (61%), internet banking (54%), social media (52%), travel services (50%). Building web sites or blogs was a much less common activity (9%).

Internet Access Has Reached 80% Households

In 2012 we saw Internet access increase again to reach 80% of British households. The 21m homes represent an increase of 3% on the 19m households with Internet access in 2011. The number has increased by 7.1m since comparable records began in 2006. The most common reason given by the 5.2m households that do not have access to the Internet was 'we do not need it'. A key point was that in 2012, 67% of British adults use a computer every day.

Internet Access Contines To Grow

The number of adults who have used the Internet is now 42.52m. The number of adults who have never used the Internet fell again in Q2 2012. The decrease of 4% on Q1 means that now 7.82m adults have never been online. The highest rate of Internet users is in the South East and London with 88% and N.Ireland is lowest with 77%. All regions have shown an increase in Internet use.

Almost all adults between 16 and 24 years of age (99%) have used the Internet and the biggest proportion (42%) of those who have never used the internet are over 75 years of age. The regular trend of men being slightly more likely to have used the Internet than women has continued (87% to 82%). In terms of earnings there is almost full coverage (98-99%) of those earning over £500/week. There is a rate of 7% of non-use among people employed earning below £200/week.

Internet Access Still Increasing In UK

There are millions of people in the UK who have never used the Internet. The ONS suggests the figure is about 9.2 million people. By contrast over 38 million people are Internet users and 30.1 million people use the Internet every day, almost double the estimate for 2006.

The people most likely to have never used the Internet are the over-65s, the widowed, those on low incomes and those with no formal qualifications. The survey also showed that 19.2m homes had Internet access which is equivalent to 73%. There was an increase of people connecting by mobile phone up to 31% from 23% in 2009, 31m used the Internet to buy or order goods, 98% of people with incomes over £41,600 had used the Internet, the rate of Internet use decreased in line with income and 69% of people with an income of less than £10,399 had used the Internet, in terms of qualificatons, 45% of those with no formal qualifications had used the Internet compared with 97% of those with a degree. Approximately 17.4m people watch television or listen to the radio over the Internet up from 6.4m in 2006.

Internet Access Reaches 70% Of Homes

Internet access has reached 18.31 million homes. It represents 70% of households and an increase of 1.85m households since 2008. Of all households 63% or 16.5 million have a broadband connection, up from 56% in 2008. It represents 90% of all Internet access. The youngest group (16-24) had the highest level of access at 96% but the largest growing group is the oldest group (65+) with a 15% increase compared with a 3% increase with the youngest group. More men than women have accessed the Internet in the last three months.

The proportion of daily Internet access users was 73%. The youngest, with 86%, accessed the Internet the most, every day or almost every day. The oldest group use it the least, with 52% using it every day. The most popular uses are e-mail but social networking is growing with 40% of users posting messages and so on. There were also increases in audio-visual uses, web radio and web television. Internet phone calls are also now popular.

Purchasing over the Internet is a growing phenomenon with 64% having purchased online at some time and 83% within the last three months. Men buy films and music, women buy clothes or sporting goods as well as food and groceries. Youger people buy clothes and sporting goods and older people buy books, magazines, newspapers and e-learning materials.