Online Usage Round-Up: Fastest Net User Growth For 65+ Age Group
The number of internet users climbed to over 29 million during the fourth quarter of 2006, according to figures released by BMRB. This represents a 9.34% growth from the same period last year.
The total number of people going online is now around 5.5 million more than it was two years ago.
Usage Location
The number of home users continues to grow, reflecting the increasing presence the internet has in the home. There are now nearly 27 million home users, an increase of 10.5% from the same time a year ago.
This means that there are now just under seven million more home internet users than there were in 2004.
| Internet Users By Location | |||||
| (‘000s) | 4th Qtr 04 | 4th Qtr 05 | 4th Qtr 06 | YoY % Change Q404 – Q405 | YoY % Change Q405 – Q406 |
| All users | 23.62 | 26.633 | 29.123 | 12.75 | 9.34 |
| Work users | 8.015 | 8.814 | 9.692 | 9.96 | 9.96 |
| Home users | 20.37 | 24.394 | 26.964 | 19.75 | 10.53 |
| Academic users | 3.112 | 3.24 | 3.071 | 4.11 | -5.21 |
Gender
Men retain their position as the dominant users of the internet, although the gap between them and their female counterparts continues to shrink.
Men make up around 15.1 million of all users, whilst there are just under 14 million women online.
| Internet Users By Gender | |||||
| (millions) | 4th Qtr 04 | 4th Qtr 05 | 4th Qtr 06 | YoY % Change 04 – 05 | YoY % Change 05 – 06 |
| Male | 12.75 | 14.11 | 15.14 | 10.66 | 7.29 |
| Female | 10.86 | 12.51 | 13.97 | 15.19 | 11.67 |
Age
Internet usage continues to grow at a faster rate amongst those aged 65+ than any other age grouping. They now account for 2.3 million users, which is an increase of 24.7% year on year.
People aged between 35 and 44 make up the largest group online, 6.7 million in total.
| Internet Users By Age | |||||
| (millions) | 4th Qtr 04 | 4th Qtr 05 | 4th Qtr 06 | YoY % Change 04 – 05 | YoY % Change 05 – 06 |
| 15-24 | 5.19 | 5.59 | 5.82 | 7.7 | 4.11 |
| 25-34 | 4.96 | 5.32 | 5.82 | 7.25 | 9.39 |
| 35-44 | 5.43 | 6.12 | 6.69 | 12.7 | 9.31 |
| 45-54 | 4.01 | 4.52 | 4.95 | 12.71 | 9.51 |
| 55-64 | 2.59 | 3.19 | 3.49 | 23.16 | 9.4 |
| 65+ | 1.41 | 1.86 | 2.32 | 31.91 | 24.73 |
Social Grade
There are almost 19 million people in the AB and C1 categories now online, an increase of over two million from 2005.
The DE grouping again saw the biggest rise in numbers, with 4.65 million of them using the internet, up 16.54% from the year before.
| Internet Users By Social Grade | |||||
| (millions) | 4th Qtr 04 | 4th Qtr 05 | 4th Qtr 06 | YoY % Change 04 – 05 | YoY % Change 05 – 06 |
| AB | 8.26 | 8.78 | 9.31 | 6.29 | 6.03 |
| C1 | 8.03 | 8.78 | 9.61 | 9.33 | 9.45 |
| C2 | 4.25 | 5.06 | 5.53 | 19.05 | 9.28 |
| DE | 3.07 | 3.99 | 4.65 | 29.96 | 16.54 |
BMRB: www.bmrb.co.uk