Posted: 29th Aug, 2007 By: MarkJ
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has released its latest '
Internet Access 2007 - Households and Individuals' report, which found that 15.23m UK households now have Internet access, with 84% of that figure being connected via broadband.
Typically 15.23m represents 61% of total UK households, suggesting that 39% have been left without any Internet access at all:
In 2007, the proportion of households able to access the Internet varied between different parts of the country. The regions with the highest level of access were the South West and London, both with 69 per cent. The regions with the lowest access levels were Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East and Northern Ireland, each with 52 per cent.
Much as with 2006, London continues to dominate with the highest level of household broadband penetration (60%). Meanwhile those choosing not to adopt broadband gave some interesting reasons for their decision:
The proportion of UK households with access to the Internet, but with a non-broadband connection, fell from 17 per cent in 2006 to 10 per cent in 2007. These households were asked the reasons why they did not have a broadband connection. The most common reason given at 40 per cent, was that they did not need
a broadband connection, 29 per cent said it was another reason, 21 per cent said it was too expensive, and 15 per cent said it was not available in their area or they could access broadband elsewhere.
Naturally Internet usage has also increased alongside the technology, with the proportion of adults that access the Internet every day or almost everyday hitting 67%, up by 14% over 2006. Meanwhile 86% said their most popular online activity was searching for goods and services.
The full report can be read
here and includes plenty of additional information for statistic lovers.