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1 . Main points
89% of adults in Great Britain used the internet at least weekly in 2018, up from 88% in 2017 and 51% in
2006.
46% of adults watched videos on demand from commercial services in 2018, up from 29% in 2016.
The proportion of adults aged 65 years and over who shop online trebled since 2008, rising from 16% to
48% in 2018.
26% of adults who use smartphones did not have smartphone security and a further 24% did not know if
they have security installed.
70% of employed adults considered that they have the required computer skills for their jobs.
2 . Things you need to know about this release
The Internet Access Survey results are derived from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN). Estimates for
2018 in this release refer to data collected in the January, February and April 2018 modules of the OPN.
We first collected statistics on internet access in 1998. Since then, various changes have been made to the
Internet Access Survey, including the publication of annual results since 2006. Where possible, we make
comparisons over time; however, time series comparisons vary, as the survey questions change from year to
year.
“On the go” refers to accessing the internet, away from home or work.
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3 . 9 out of 10 households have internet access
Figure 1: Households with internet access in Great Britain,1998 to 2018
Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
UK estimates from 1998 to 2004. Great Britain estimates from 2005 to 2018.
Source: Family Expenditure Survey 1998 to 2001; Expenditure and Food Survey 2002 to 2004; Opinions
and Lifestyle Survey, formerly known as the Opinions/Omnibus Survey from 2005.
Estimates were published on a quarterly basis from 1988 to 2004. See Households with Access to the
Internet, 1998 to 2004
2015 to 2018 estimates relate to January, February and April. Previous estimates relate to January to
March, except 1998 which relates to April to June and 2005 which relates to May.
During 2005, estimates were published at irregular intervals as Topic Based Summaries. These are no
longer available on the ONS website.
In 2018, of all households in Great Britain, 90% had access to the internet. This has started to level off over the
last few years, rising by only 1 percentage point since 2016. However, household internet access has increased
by 33 percentage points since 2006 (Figure 1).
Fixed broadband has continued to be the most popular type of household internet connection since 2015, with
98% of households with internet access having this type of connection in 2018.
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Households with one adult aged 65 years and over had the lowest proportion of internet access, at 59% in 2018.
However, these households had the largest growth in internet access, up 23 percentage points since 2012,
compared with growth of 10 percentage points in all households. In Figure 2, we have compared this year’s
results with estimates from 2012 when comparable records began for this analysis.
Figure 2: Internet connection by household composition in Great Britain, 2012 and 2018
Used within the last three months
Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
Base: Households in Great Britain.
4 . Daily internet use has more than doubled since 2006
Since 2006, the percentage of adults who use the internet daily has grown from 35%, to 86% in 2018, while
weekly use has declined, from 16% in 2006 to 4% in 2018. Furthermore, the proportion of those who had not
used the internet in the last three months has fallen from 40% in 2006, to 9% in 2018 (Figure 3).。