Digital divide alive and well in UK

 

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Posted on 19 Dec 2000 at 17:44

Home Internet access is rising slowly in the UK, but the old divides between rich and poor remain.

According to a survey issued by National Statistics, 32 per cent of households can now access the Internet from home, an increase of ten per cent from December last year.

Around 45 per cent of adults have had access to the Internet at some point, with 80 per cent of these having access in the last month. This reflects the high proportion of employees who have Internet access at work and children who use the Net at school. Around 80 per cent of 16 to 24 year olds had used the Net at some point.

The professional classes still make up a huge proportion of the Net community. Over 70 per cent of professionals had used the Net, with 57 per cent of "intermediate" and 46 per cent of "skilled" non-manual workers having surfed the Web at some point. Even in the partly-skilled and unskilled categories, 28 and 26 per cent respectively had some experience of the Net.

The split by geography is possibly even more revealing. London and the South East are still way ahead with 34 and 30 per cent of households respectively having home access. Northern Ireland is bringing up the rear with only 16 per cent of households having home access.

Author: Caroline Gilmour