- In 2014, 38 million adults (76%) in Great Britain accessed the Internet every day, 21 million more than in 2006, when directly comparable records began.
- Access to the Internet using a mobile phone more than doubled between 2010 and 2014, from 24% to 58%.
- In 2014, 74% of all adults bought goods or services online, up from 53% in 2008. Clothes (49%) were the most popular online purchase in 2014.
- Of all adults in Great Britain, 67% are aware of Internet storage space services, but the take up of these services to store data is much lower at 35%.
- In Great Britain, 22 million households (84%) had Internet access in 2014, up from 57% in 2006.
- Fixed broadband Internet connections were used by 91% of households.
Young adults lead the way across all categories of Internet use. Those aged 16 to 24 used the Internet more than other age groups for recreational activities such as social networking (91%) and playing or downloading games (68%). Adults aged 25 to 34 used the Internet more than other age groups to carry out a wide range of established 'every day' activities, such as purchasing goods or services online (90%), Internet banking (71%) and selling goods or services online (36%).
The results are derived from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) first collected statistics on Internet access in 1998. Since then, a number of changes have been made to the Internet access survey, as well as the publication of annual results since 2006. Where possible, comparisons over time are made in this release. However, the available coverage for time series comparisons varies, as survey questions vary each year.
Read more on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website