1. Main facts and figures
- in 2019, 90.8% of people aged 16 and over had used the internet in the 3 months prior to being surveyed (making them ‘recent internet users’)
- the Indian and White ethnic groups had the lowest percentages of recent internet users (at 90.4% and 90.5%) and the Chinese ethnic group had the highest (98.6%)
- the largest regional difference in internet use between ethnic groups was amongst Asian people in the West Midlands (86.8%) and the South East (97.4%)
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage of people aged 16 or older in the UK who are recent internet users (meaning they have used the internet in the last 3 months).
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is aggregated for the Black, Mixed, White and Other ethnic groups, which means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole. This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to make reliable conclusions about all of the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.
Data is shown separately for the 5 different Asian ethnic groups.
In the analyses by area and age group, estimates are shown for 4 ethnic groups:
- Asian
- Black
- White
- Other (including Mixed)
This is to make sure that sample sizes are big enough to be able to make reliable generalisations.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:
- interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
- how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied
In the data file
See Download the data for confidence intervals for each ethnic group. Find out more about how confidence intervals are used to determine how reliable estimates are.
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | estimated number (thousands) |
|---|---|---|
| All | 90.8 | 48,098 |
| Bangladeshi | 91.9 | 354 |
| Chinese | 98.6 | 265 |
| Indian | 90.4 | 1,077 |
| Pakistani | 91.1 | 767 |
| Asian other | 95.6 | 620 |
| Black | 92.8 | 1,376 |
| Mixed | 96.0 | 547 |
| White | 90.5 | 42,296 |
| Other | 94.5 | 796 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Internet use By ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- 98.6% of people from the Chinese ethnic group were recent internet users, the highest percentage of any ethnic group
- 90.5% of people in the White ethnic group and 90.4% of people from the Indian ethnic group were recent internet users, the lowest percentages of any ethnic group
4. By ethnicity and area
| All | Asian | Black | White | Other including Mixed | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geography | All % | All Number (thousands) | Asian % | Asian Number (thousands) | Black % | Black Number (thousands) | White % | White Number (thousands) | Other inc Mixed % | Other inc Mixed Number (thousands) |
| UK | 90.8 | 48,098 | 92.4 | 3,083 | 92.8 | 1,376 | 90.5 | 42,296 | 95.1 | 1,343 |
| North East | 87.7 | 1,871 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 87.7 | 1,789 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| North West | 90.0 | 5,198 | 89.9 | 295 | 97.6 | 92 | 89.8 | 4,694 | 94.6 | 117 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 89.8 | 3,908 | 89.0 | 225 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 89.6 | 3,542 | 97.8 | 94 |
| East Midlands | 89.9 | 3,439 | 88.3 | 215 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 89.9 | 3,092 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| West Midlands | 88.7 | 4,125 | 86.8 | 424 | 96.1 | 170 | 88.4 | 3,419 | 94.5 | 112 |
| East of England | 92.0 | 4,552 | 95.1 | 186 | 100.0 | 80 | 91.6 | 4,204 | 98.8 | 82 |
| London | 93.0 | 6,571 | 94.7 | 1,118 | 88.9 | 701 | 93.3 | 4,195 | 93.3 | 557 |
| South East | 93.0 | 6,755 | 97.4 | 373 | 99.2 | 124 | 92.4 | 6,112 | 99.5 | 146 |
| South West | 92.3 | 4,165 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 92.0 | 4,014 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Wales | 89.6 | 2,264 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 89.5 | 2,171 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Scotland | 89.6 | 3,979 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 89.2 | 3,825 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Northern Ireland | 86.7 | 1,271 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 86.5 | 1,239 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of Internet use By ethnicity and area Summary
This data shows that:
- in London, recent internet use was broadly similar for Asian, White and Other ethnic groups, ranging from 93.3% to 94.7%, with a lower percentage of users in Black ethnic groups (88.9%)
- Asian people in the South East were more likely than Asian people in West Midlands to have used the internet recently (97.4% compared to 86.8%)
- for some ethnic groups, regions and countries (particularly Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the South West and the North East) the number of respondents was too low to draw firm conclusions
5. By ethnicity and age group
| All | Asian | Black | White | Other including Mixed | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age Bracket | All % | All Number (thousands) | Asian % | Asian Number (thousands) | Black % | Black Number (thousands) | White % | White Number (thousands) | Other inc Mixed % | Other inc Mixed Number (thousands) |
| 16-24 | 99.2 | 6,873 | 99.4 | 602 | 98.5 | 270 | 99.2 | 5,681 | 99.1 | 321 |
| 25-34 | 99.4 | 8,889 | 99.1 | 735 | 99.6 | 303 | 99.4 | 7,495 | 99.2 | 357 |
| 35-44 | 98.9 | 8,238 | 98.4 | 864 | 98.0 | 290 | 99.1 | 6,767 | 96.4 | 317 |
| 45-54 | 97.5 | 8,801 | 94.3 | 510 | 96.0 | 271 | 97.9 | 7,811 | 93.0 | 209 |
| 55-64 | 93.2 | 7,490 | 83.6 | 231 | 94.5 | 179 | 93.5 | 6,976 | 95.2 | 105 |
| 65-74 | 83.2 | 5,336 | 64.8 | 99 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 83.8 | 5,176 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| 75+ | 46.8 | 2,471 | 29.9 | 42 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 47.6 | 2,391 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)
Summary of Internet use By ethnicity and age group Summary
This data shows that:
-
within every ethnic group, at least 98.5% of people aged 16 to 24 years old were recent internet users
-
amongst adults aged between 16 and 34, the percentage of recent internet users was broadly the same across ethnic groups
-
Asian people were less likely to be recent internet users than other ethnic groups in the 55 to 64 age group (at 83.6%)
-
Asian people were also less likely to be recent internet users than White ethnic groups in the 65 to 74 and 75+ age groups (at 64.8% and 29.9%)
6. Data sources
Source
Internet users in the UK: 2019
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Office for National Statistics
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The primary purpose of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is to provide good quality estimates each month for various aspects of the labour market. The LFS also allows users to see how these labour market measures change over time. The LFS also collects data on internet use.
7. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, year, region, value, estimated number, confidence intervals (upper and lower bounds)