Skip to content
Thursday 3 September 2026London --:--Frankfurt --:--Zurich --:--
NewslettersSearchEN · DE · FR
MorningWire

European business, markets and politics

FTSE 100
10,756.45
-0.30%
DAX
25,839.33
-0.50%
CAC 40
8,280.63
0.00%
STOXX 50
6,362.15
-0.11%
  • Europe
  • Markets
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Regulation
  • Politics
  • Opinion
More
GermanyFranceEU InstitutionsCompetitionPublic AffairsBankingTechnologyEnergy
  • Germany
  • France
  • Europe
  • Markets
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Regulation
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • DE
Friday 20 May 2016 12:33 pm

These three charts show how we use the internet now

By: Francesca Washtell

Add as a preferred source on Google

More Britons than ever used the internet in the last three months, according to newly-released data from the Office for National Statistics. 

Almost 46m adults accessed the internet in the last quarter, accounting for 87.9 per cent of all UK adults, a modest jump on 86.2 per cent in 2015. 

The percentage of Britons who had never used the internet also fell by more than one per cent, to 10.2 per cent (5.3m) in 2016 from 11.4 per cent in the same period of last year.

These three charts show us what else we've learned about the UK's internet use:

Almost all adults between the ages of 16 and 44 have used the internet

Breaking the data down by age group, almost all 16- to 44-year-olds (98.8 per cent) had used the internet in the last three months, though recent internet use in the 65- to 74-year-old group has increased by 68.7 per cent since 2011. 

Read more: UK police forces "lobby" to get access to internet browsing histories

Men over the age of 75 are more likely to have used the internet than women the same age

Since 2015, the largest increases in the number of recent internet users were between women aged 75 and over (19.7 per cent) and men aged 75 and over (16.4 per cent).

However, men in the oldest two age groups were more likely to have accessed the internet than women in the same age category. 

Read more: UK's internet usage increases as the older generation turns to the net

In 2016, 46.7 per cent of men aged 75 years and over were recent internet users compared with 32.6 per cent of women.

A quarter of disabled adults have never used the internet

The number of disabled adults who had never accessed the internet fell in 2016 to 25 per cent, down from 27.4 per cent in 2015, according to this ONS chart. 

There were around 500,000 disabled adults in total who had last used the internet over three months ago, making up 50 per cent of the 0.9m lapsed internet users.

"While we have seen a notable increase in internet usage across all groups in recent years, many older and disabled people are still not online, with two-thirds of women over 75 having never used the internet," Pete Lee, of the surveys and economic indicators division at the ONS, said.

Share this article

  • Facebook
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • WhatsApp
  • Email

Similarly tagged content:

Sections

  • News

Categories

  • Tech

Trending Articles

  • Vodafone and Deliveroo look to patch up Reform ties after Yusuf prison threats

  • Trio of firms poised to quit London Stock Exchange as exodus gathers pace

  • Easyjet’s over-60s recruitment push is economically necessary

  • Jim O’Neill: Capital gains tax hike ‘looms’ as top option for Burnham

  • ‘Large tax hikes on the way’: How the global bond rout is boxing in Healey

More from Morning Wire

  • Experian Brings Personalised Credit Scores to ChatGPT in a UK First

    Business Wire
  • Amazon says it buys books in bulk to ‘improve products’

    Tech
    Bloomsbury was voted Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards 2025.
  • Lattice to Showcase Industrial FPGA Innovations at FPGAWorld Conference 2026

    Business Wire
  • UK’s AI watchdog flags new OpenAI and Anthropic cyber alarms

    AI
    Smartphone displaying the Claude by Anthropic AI assistant app, showing the app icon and interface.
  • Cloudflare Introduces Adaptive Intelligence; Reverses the Economics of Automated Cyber Attacks

    Business Wire
  • Vercel Appoints Amit Agarwal, Standard Template Labs CEO and former Datadog President, to Board of Directors

    Business Wire
  • Neurodiversity, employment law and ‘reasonable adjustments’ – the new HR headache

    Law
    Four brown puppies playing on a green mat with pink toys and a paw-print blanket.
  • Cloudflare Gives AI Agents an Identity and a Wallet

    Business Wire
MorningWire

Independent European business, markets and political news for decision-makers.

Morning Briefing

Europe

  • Germany
  • France
  • EU Institutions
  • Europe

Business

  • Markets
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Regulation
  • Competition
  • Public Affairs

Editorial

  • Opinion
  • Editorial Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact

Company

  • About Morning Wire
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookie Policy
© 2026 Morning Wire Ltd · Published by Morning Wire Media, Bahnhofstrasse 65, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland
Privacy · Terms · Cookies · Facebook