16 million homes now have Internet access

In 2008, 16 million households in Great Britain (65 per cent) had Internet access, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is an increase of just over 1 million households (7 per cent) over the last year and 5 million households (46 per cent) since 2002. Estimates for Great Britain are provided to give a time series, as UK estimates are not available prior to 2006.

Almost 16.5 million (65 per cent) UK households including Northern Ireland had access to the Internet. This was an increase of 1.2 million households (8 per cent) since 2007. The region with the highest level of access was the South East with 74 per cent. The region with the lowest access level was the North East with 54 per cent.

Fifty-six per cent of all UK households with Internet access had a broadband connection in 2008, up from 51 per cent in 2007.

Adults under 70 years of age who had a degree or equivalent qualification were most likely to have access to the Internet in their home, at 93 per cent. Those individuals who had no formal qualifications, were least likely to have an Internet connection in their home at 56 per cent.