Over nine million UK adults have never been online

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Despite a drop in previous figures, more than nine million adults in the UK have still never been online, according to research.

The annual report by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed 9.2 million had never accessed the internet, one million less than in 2009, but it was still the same people missing out.

The research showed the majority of the over 65s – 60 per cent – had still never surfed the web and 45 per cent of those without formal qualifications had never tried either.

However, 30.1 million – 60 per cent of the adult population in the UK – claimed to access the internet either every day or almost every day, smashing ONS predictions from 2006 of 16.5 million.

Just over 19 million households have an internet connection, according to the survey, which equated to 73 per cent of all households. However, this was affected by region, with the highest level of connections falling in London – 83 per cent of households – and the lowest in the North East – 59 per cent of households.

“When adults were asked why their household did not have an internet connection, the most common response was that they didn’t need it, at 39 per cent, followed by 21 per cent who said a lack of skills prevented them from having the internet,” said the ONS.

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