Older generations are closing the gap on younger age groups
Over half those who have never used the internet are aged 75 and over
For most people, the internet is an indispensable tool for both their work and social lives - life without it now seems unimaginable.
But according to research released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), around 1 in 10 UK adults have never used the internet, despite an uptake in usage from older generations in particular.
From January to March this year, 89 per cent of adults in the UK had recently used the internet - defined as within the last three months - according to the ONS, up from 88 per cent in 2016.
Unsurprisingly, 99 per cent of adults aged 16 to 24 and 25 to 34 years were recent users, although older generations are closing the gap - recent usage among adults aged 75 and over is up from 52 per cent in 2011 to 78 per cent in 2017.The proportion of adults who have never used the internet was down from 10 per cent in 2016 to 9 per cent this year. Of the 4.8 million adults who had never used the internet in 2017, just over half (2.6 million) were aged 75 years and over.
The findings show that men are fractionally more likely to use the internet than women, with 90 per cent of males registering as recent users compared to 88 per cent of females.
Northern Ireland is catching up with the other UK regions in recent internet use, reaching 84 per cent in 2017, however, it remained the region with the lowest recent use.
Source: This article was published independent.co.uk By Miles Dilworth
