ONS Report: Internet Access – Households and Individuals 2015

Last week the ONS released their annual report on internet access in the UK. Overall it supports the findings of Ofcom’s Communications Report that more people are going online, and then doing more online.

The data release showed that nearly 80% of adults in the UK use the internet on an almost daily basis. As the graph below shows this is a 2% increase on 2014 with the pace of internet adoption slowing in from the large increases we saw from 2006-10.

Email retained its crown as the most common internet activity with 76% of adults using the internet for this purpose. All activities saw increases in use with social media one of the big movers with 61% of adults using it. Unsurprisingly this usage was also one of the most ‘intense’ with 79% of those using it, accessing it on an almost daily basis. Equally unsurprisingly is the difference across age groups with over 90% of 16-24 using social media compared to just 15% of the 65+ category.

The report highlight the British consumers’ heavy use of online shopping with more than 75% of adults buying goods and services online in the last 12 months. The 35-44 age group leads the way in 11 of the 15 categories of goods and services tested, perhaps reflecting their purchasing power. The gap between age groups is generally smaller though with the 65+ category showing strong growth with 42% of them using the internet to shop in 2015 rising from 16% in 2008.