Digital exclusion: how tough a problem is it to crack?

The issue of digital exclusion – and its close correlation with wider social exclusion – has been steadily moving up the public policy agenda over the last few years. Last year the Government published a detailed report into digital exclusion for example. But what do the latest internet access statistics tell us?

The 2009 Oxford Internet Survey was released last week and it paints a picture of continued, steady growth in internet take up. It provides good grounds to believe that this growth will continue – but there are some sharp social divides.

In 2003, 58% of households had access to the internet, growing to 61% in 2005 (+3), 66% in 2007 (+5) and now 70% (+4). This steady and continuous growth does not – at least as yet – show any sign of plateauing.

Overall internet access is slightly higher, with 5% of internet users not having access at home and so being excluded from these figures.

Moreover, whilst only 21% of households without access say they will probably or definitely get access in the next year, this figure is up from 18% in 2007. Overall, this statistic seems to be a poor indicator of future trends, for in 2005 the figure was 44% and yet that sharp decline in 2007 did not result in a sharp change in the trend of internet access overall.

Where growth has slowed is in the proportion of households whose internet access is via broadband, but that is because there is little room left to grow. That increased from 59% to 85% in 2005-07, and then up to 96% in 2009.

Whilst therefore the overall numbers are fairly positive, there are some very sharp social divides. As the report says, “People in the highest income category were more than twice as likely to use the Internet in 2009 (97%) than those in the lowest income category (38%). Internet use remained in general the same in all income groups between 2007 and 2009. The only considerable increase was among households in the highest income group. From 91% in 2007, Internet use increased to 97%.”

There are though in the details more hopeful signs, for the top reason ex-internet users now give for having stopped is that internet access was too expensive. That’s a figure that has gone up as the economy has gone down, but in turn is likely to come down as the economy recovers. Amongst those who have never used the internet, the top reason given is that people do not think it would be useful, which again suggests that there is scope for future growth – if people are offered services they find compelling or important.

The other big difference in internet access is between those households with and without children: “Households with children were more likely to have access to the Internet, especially if the children were teenagers. 88% of households with children between 10 to 17 had access to the Internet, compared to 78% of households with under 10s and 63% of households with no children.”

Meanwhile the gender gap has nearly completely closed. In 2003, internet usage was 9 percentage points higher amongst men than women, a figure which has fallen steadily and now stands at 3 percentage points. With the Oxford report coming out every two years, it is quite possible that the next one will show no gender gap, as well as revealing how hard a nut to crack digital exclusion turns out to be.