Country context · World Bank / ITU
Internet use in United Kingdom
The World Bank / ITU internet-use indicator reports 95.5% for United Kingdom in 2024, the latest non-missing year in this extract.
Individuals using the internet · National indicator · Percentage of the source-defined population · No 2025 value supplied for United Kingdom
The indicator targets internet use from any location in the past three months. Historical source notes include different age groups and reference periods. The 2024 cell supplies no exact age cutoff or detailed survey question, so this is not labelled an adults-18+ estimate.
Source: World Bank, IT.NET.USER.ZS, original provider International Telecommunication Union. Exact United Kingdom / 2024 observation. Data retrieved 2026-10-08; the retrieval date is not the year measured.
35 reported annual observations, with their limits
The record begins in 1990 and its latest value is from 2024. Each dot is one published estimate. Dots are deliberately not connected: source, survey universe and measurement can change between years.
Published value Documented scope note▲ Source-note change× Missing, not zero
The vertical scale is 0–100%. No growth rate, interpolated value, comparable-country ranking or uncertainty interval is inferred. A source-note change is a caution, not proof of a methodology break.
Source: World Bank / ITU, IT.NET.USER.ZS, source 2. Social Usage creates this chart from unchanged source values. Read every observation and footnote.
Read the chart’s survey-scope and source-change markers
Documented scope and methodology notes
- 2001: Source and notes: ONS., Population age 16+ using the Internet in the last 3 months.
- 2002: Source and notes: Eurostat., Population age 16-74 using Internet in the last 3 months.
- 2011: Source and notes: Eurostat., Users in the last 3 months. Age 16-74.
- 2017: Source and notes: Office for National Statistics, Last 3 months
- 2018: Source and notes: Office for National Statistics, Last 3 months
- 2019: Source and notes: Office for National Statistics, Last 3 months
Changes in the supplied source notes
These markers follow changes in the name provided by the annual footnote. They do not establish that all methods stayed constant between markers.
- 2000: Cell source changes to ONS; comparability has not been established.
- 2002: Cell source changes to Eurostat; comparability has not been established.
- 2017: Cell source changes to Office for National Statistics; comparability has not been established.
- 2021: Cell source changes to ITU estimate; comparability has not been established.
- 2024: The cell-specific source footnote is not supplied for this year; this does not prove a survey or method change.
The UK record contains different age scopes and sources
The 2001 footnote describes use in the past three months among people aged 16 or older. The 2002 and 2011 notes instead identify ages 16–74. These are not interchangeable population labels, and an age definition stated for one cell does not establish the age range of every later cell.
Source notes change from Eurostat in 2016 to the Office for National Statistics in 2017; the 2021–2023 cells identify ITU estimates. The chart shows source-note changes without claiming that a particular rise or fall was caused by a method change. The latest cell has no detailed source footnote, so the profile does not present a harmonized growth calculation.
Interpretation follows the original country/year footnotes reproduced below. Explore the separate European social-network measure →
Internet use does not establish platform use
The indicator does not say whether someone used Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or another named service. It also does not measure the share of households online or the number of subscriptions. Platform-specific evidence retains its own question, country scope and audience definition.
Full annual table: estimates, missing years and exact source footnotes
| Year | Internet use | Original source footnote | Source status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Not available | No cell-specific note supplied. | None supplied |
| 2024 | 95.5% | No cell-specific note supplied. | None supplied |
| 2023 | 95.4% | Source and notes: ITU estimate., | None supplied |
| 2022 | 95.5% | Source and notes: ITU estimate., | None supplied |
| 2021 | 96.2% | Source and notes: ITU estimate., | None supplied |
| 2020 | 94.8% | Source and notes: Office for National Statistics, | None supplied |
| 2019 | 92.5% | Source and notes: Office for National Statistics, Last 3 months | None supplied |
| 2018 | 90.7% | Source and notes: Office for National Statistics, Last 3 months | None supplied |
| 2017 | 90.4% | Source and notes: Office for National Statistics, Last 3 months | None supplied |
| 2016 | 94.8% | Source and notes: Eurostat, | None supplied |
| 2015 | 92.0% | Source and notes: Eurostat, | None supplied |
| 2014 | 91.6% | Source and notes: Eurostat, | None supplied |
| 2013 | 89.8% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2012 | 87.5% | Source and notes: Eurostat, | None supplied |
| 2011 | 85.4% | Source and notes: Eurostat., Users in the last 3 months. Age 16-74. | None supplied |
| 2010 | 85.0% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2009 | 83.6% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2008 | 78.4% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2007 | 75.1% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2006 | 68.8% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2005 | 70.0% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2004 | 65.6% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2003 | 64.8% | Source and notes: Eurostat., | None supplied |
| 2002 | 56.5% | Source and notes: Eurostat., Population age 16-74 using Internet in the last 3 months. | None supplied |
| 2001 | 33.5% | Source and notes: ONS., Population age 16+ using the Internet in the last 3 months. | None supplied |
| 2000 | 26.8% | Source and notes: ONS., | None supplied |
| 1999 | 21.3% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1998 | 13.7% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1997 | 7.4% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1996 | 4.1% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1995 | 1.9% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1994 | 1.0% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1993 | 0.5% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1992 | 0.3% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1991 | 0.2% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
| 1990 | 0.1% | Source: ITU estimate. | None supplied |
The source response supplies no standard errors or confidence intervals. Missing years are not zero. The API’s generic decimal-display metadata is retained in the download separately from the original values.
Download all four countries’ original values and credited metadata (CSV)
Methods, dates and permitted reuse
Definition, denominator and uncertainty
The World Bank describes internet users as individuals who used the internet from any location in the previous three months, regardless of device. Its methodology describes weighted responses divided by the number of in-scope individuals. That target definition does not erase the different historical scopes recorded in this country’s footnotes.
These are national aggregate observations. The selected API does not supply a consistent age range, survey instrument, fieldwork period, respondent count or sampling uncertainty for every year. We do not infer state or local estimates, calculate person counts, or combine these percentages with another survey’s activity share. No comparison calculation has been approved for these historical country series.
Original definition, methodology and limitations · How the digital-behavior release handles incompatible data
Evidence dates, release and source revision
- Latest country observation
- 2024
- Source API database revision
- 2026-10-08
- Source retrieved
- 2026-10-08
- Assisted review
- 2026-10-08
- Site data release
- digital-behavior-2026-10-08-v1
Sampled observations were also checked against a separate World Bank CSV download carrying a July 13, 2026 update header. Those samples match the JSON values; the distribution revision dates remain separate. A website retrieval or database revision does not change the year measured. Assisted review is not independent human editorial review.
Credit and reuse
World Bank: World Development Indicators, IT.NET.USER.ZS. Original data provider: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database.
Social Usage selected countries, organized the records and created original charts; underlying percentage values are unchanged. Display values may be rounded.
The selected indicator is published under CC BY 4.0, with World Bank dataset terms. Retain attribution, source links, dates and change notices when reusing permitted downloads. World Bank and ITU do not endorse this page; no source logos or artwork are reproduced.
More country context
Each profile has its own documented history. These links are not a country ranking.