LONDON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Nine out of ten people in Britain now make weekly use of the Internet in 2018, compared with just half the population in 2006, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Tuesday.
Latest data from ONS also shows almost half of adults watched videos on demand from commercial services in 2018, up from 29 percent in 2016, while the older population have joined the on-line shopping revolution.
Figures show the proportion of adults aged 65 years and over who shop online has trebled since 2008, rising from 16 percent to 48 percent in 2018.
Meanwhile, 70 percent of employed adults consider they have the required computer skills for their jobs, though 26 percent of adults who use smartphones did not have smartphone security and a further 24 percent did not know if they have security installed on their devices.
The study reveals that 90 percent of homes in Britain now have internet access compared to just 9 percent in 1998. Although the number of homes with internet access has increased by 33 percent since 2006, the level has started to level off over the last few years, rising by only 1 percentage point since 2016.
Fixed broadband has continued to be the most popular type of household internet connection, with 98 percent of households with internet access having this type of connection in 2018.
The ONS data also shows that since 2006, the percentage of adults who use the internet daily has grown from 35 percent, to 86 percent in 2018, while the proportion of those who had not used the internet in the last three months has fallen from 40 percent in 2006, to 9 percent in 2018.
Around 99 percent of people aged 25 to 34 used smartphones to gain access to the internet, followed closely by those aged 16 to 24 (98 percent) and 35 to 44 year olds (96 percent).
In 2018, among all adults, 77 percent had used the internet "on the go" using a mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, tablet or handheld device. Almost all adults aged 25 to 34 years (97 percent) had accessed the internet "on the go", compared with only 39 percent of those aged 65 years and over.
ONS said that as the closure of high street banks in Britain continued to rise, internet banking has also shown yearly growth over the past decade, rising from 35 percent in 2008, to 69 percent in 2018. This is closely followed by people seeking health-related information which has shown a rise of 30 percent since 2008.
Meanwhile 78 percent of the population bought goods or services online in the last 12 months, up 1 percent since 2017 and 25 percent since 2008, with older adults showing largest increase in online shopping over the past decade.
