Digital inclusion (National Survey for Wales): April 2012 to March 2013

Main points

• 73% of Welsh households have access to the internet, up from 70% in 2012.
• 77% of Welsh adults (aged 16 and over) use the internet at home, work or elsewhere. Of the 23% of Welsh adults who do not currently use the internet, the vast majority (85%) have never used the internet. Just under 20% of adults in Wales or around 550,000 adults. This group might be considered to be the ‘core digitally disengaged’.
• In 2012-13 laptops are the most common device used by digitally engaged adults to access the internet, with 76% using this device. Usage of smartphones shows a particular difference between older and younger cohorts, with older age groups having lower levels of smartphone usage.
• The digitally disengaged are comprised mainly of those who are over 65, relatively comfortable financially, disproportionately likely to have a limiting illness and no qualifications, and to be working in (or, for the retired, have worked in) manual jobs.
• Of the roughly 20% of adults in Wales who are long-term digitally disengaged, for two-thirds this is due to personal choice (‘digitally isolated’) whilst for one third it is due to some constraint (‘digitally excluded’).
• Lack of skills is by far the most common barrier to digital engagement for the involuntary digitally excluded: 75% of the barriers to digital engagement cited relate to lack of skills. Adults with no qualifications make up 56% of this group – over 100,000 adults.