24/05/2017
While a smaller proportion of women than men still use the internet, the Office of National Statistics’ annual estimates of internet use in the UK show that the gap has been closing since the series commenced in 2011 – with this year’s figures confirming that women aged 75 and over are in the vanguard.
By far the largest increase in the number of ‘recent internet users’ (i.e. those who had used the Internet in the past three months) in these groups was in these older women, whose numbers trebled from 0.3 million in 2011 to just over 1 million in 2017.
The ONS bases its estimates on data gathered in the first quarter of each survey year, so its 2017 data for January-March provide a direct comparison with previous years. Internet usage is grouped according to characteristics that include age, sex, geographical location, disability and weekly earnings.
The 2017 estimates also confirm that older people of both sexes are continuing to catch up with the younger generation – although with 99% of adults from 16 to 34 years recent Internet users in 2017, they still have some way to go.
The percentage of recent internet users among adults aged 65 to 74 has increased from 52% in 2011 to 78% this year. Adults aged 75 and older have always been the lowest users of the Internet, but while there were only 20% recent users in 2011, the percentage more than doubled to 41% this year.
Recent internet use by retired adults in general has increased by almost 22% since 2011 to 61% this year.
The data is explained in (‘Internet users in the UK 2017: Statistical Bulletin’) by a combination of text, charts and tables, while ‘Internet Users: Dataset’ presents it in xls format spreadsheets.
Other main statistics from 2017 include
- 89% of UK adults had recently used the internet, an increase of 1% compared with 2016
- 90% of men and 88% of women were recent users, up from 89% and 86% respectively in 2016
- 22% of disabled adults had never used the internet (25% in 2016)
- Northern Ireland remains the region with the lowest recent use (84%). Although that is 15% higher than in 2011
- London is the region with the highest proportion (93%) of recent users
- 87% of adults in both Scotland and Wales are recent users
We at the Credit Protection Association are glad its members are able to make good use of the internet to instruct us to collect debts for them, take credit reports on their customers and enjoy the piece of mind that comes from having sound credit management in place, regardless of gender or age.