Scottish Household Survey
Quarterly Data Trends
Current data up to 2009 Quarter 2
Next update will be under review as these trends have been taken out of scope of the main quarterly data release
Commentary
Since the question was introduced in 2001, the percentage of adults who make use of the internet for personal use has risen steadily from 31 per cent in the first quarter of 2001 to almost 68 per cent in the second quarter of 2009. Men make greater personal use of the internet than women with the figures for men generally being around six percentage points higher than those for women, although this gap has narrowed over the years from approximately ten percentage points to approximately three in quarter two of 2009.
The apparent quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in the figures may well be the result of sampling variability. Quarter-to-quarter changes should therefore be interpreted with caution.
Data
Adults who make personal use of the internet (%)
| Year | Qtr | | Men (16+) | Women (16+) | All (16+) |
| 2001 | Qtr 1 | | 36.8 | 26.4 | 31.4 |
| Qtr 2 | | 36.8 | 27.9 | 32.1 |
| Qtr 3 | | 39.1 | 29.9 | 34.2 |
| Qtr 4 | | 40.7 | 30.3 | 35.3 |
| 2002 | Qtr 1 | | 41.5 | 33.3 | 37.2 |
| Qtr 2 | | 41.2 | 31.1 | 35.9 |
| Qtr 3 | | 43.4 | 34.3 | 38.5 |
| Qtr 4 | | 48.0 | 38.4 | 43.0 |
| 2003 | Qtr 1 | | 47.5 | 38.9 | 43.0 |
| Qtr 2 | | 52.7 | 43.1 | 47.7 |
| Qtr 3 | | 52.4 | 42.4 | 47.1 |
| Qtr 4 | | 50.4 | 45.9 | 48.1 |
| 2004 | Qtr 1 | | 53.5 | 43.3 | 48.2 |
| Qtr 2 | | 51.3 | 47.0 | 49.1 |
| Qtr 3 | | 49.6 | 44.2 | 46.6 |
| Qtr 4 | | 56.3 | 49.3 | 52.6 |
| 2005 | Qtr 1 | | 54.6 | 46.2 | 50.2 |
| Qtr 2 | | 56.3 | 49.6 | 52.8 |
| Qtr 3 | | 58.9 | 49.5 | 54.0 |
| Qtr 4 | | 60.5 | 52.5 | 56.3 |
| 2006 | Qtr 1 | | 58.3 | 51.5 | 54.8 |
| Qtr 2 | | 60.7 | 51.4 | 55.8 |
| Qtr 3 | | 62.1 | 54.9 | 58.3 |
| Qtr 4 | | 61.0 | 58.4 | 59.6 |
| 2007 | Qtr 1 | | 62.7 | 58.4 | 60.3 |
| Qtr 2 | | 68.0 | 58.9 | 63.1 |
| Qtr 3 | | 64.0 | 59.0 | 61.4 |
| Qtr 4 | | 68.6 | 61.3 | 64.8 |
| 2008 | Qtr 1 | | 67.1 | 58.1 | 62.5 |
| Qtr 2 | | 68.7 | 62.7 | 65.4 |
| Qtr 3 | | 69.6 | 63.3 | 66.3 |
| Qtr 4 | | 74.6 | 65.4 | 69.8 |
| 2009 | Qtr 1 | | 70.2 | 67.3 | 68.7 |
| Qtr 2 | | 69.9 | 66.2 | 67.9 |
Percent of adult population
Notes
This question was first introduced in 2001
The question was moved in 2007 to the Random Adult section of the interview