Digital inequality is complex and evolving. Here's a round-up of useful facts & stats about digital inclusion.
It's tempting to think we all get by in a digital world, but that's not what the stats tell us.
Digital exclusion is hard to define and hard to measure. It can change as the technology and society changes and not always in the ways you'd expect. The most obvious example is that digital exclusion isn't a problem that has gone away because we've all got more accustomed to technology. Rather the fact that everything is digital these days, from parking to prescriptions, makes digital a necessity for everyone.
This is a consolidated overview of the UK's digital inclusion, exclusion and skills landscapes. We've looked primarily at the data from three benchmark reports, Minimum Digital Living Standard (MDLS), Ofcom and Lloyds Banking Group.
We'd highly recommend looking at the full reports. We've also pulled in data from other sources, listed below. We compiled this in early 2026 so things may change as the year progresses.
Digital exclusion is no longer just about "being offline". The three main barriers are:
There are always exceptions, but in general, digital exclusion tracks to well-known markers. If you are older, or of lower income, educational level or "social group"; if you have any form of disability or impairment or are female (though the gender gap is closing), then you are more likely to be digitally excluded. And the more of these criteria you meet, the more likely this exclusion is.
A number of different surveys have looked at how many people are excluded and how using a range of metrics:
It includes having accessible internet, adequate equipment, and the skills and knowledge people need.
It is about being able to communicate, connect, and engage with opportunities safely and with confidence.
The Essential Digital Skills (EDS) framework looks at what specific skills people do and don't have.
It starts with a foundation level, which is the digital basics. It then splits into EDS for Life and EDS for Work, both listing around 20 skills, divided into five areas, around skills like transacting or communicating.
The framework reflects the non-linear way people acquire digital skills - it's never straightforward - so you can have the "essentials" without actually having the "foundation skills".
And you only need one skill in an area to qualify as having that skillset. This means the headlines may not always fully represent ability. For example, 92% of us count as having EDS for Life - because we have at least one skill in each area - but only 53% of us can actually do all the tasks.
(All stats below from the 2025 EDS unless otherwise stated).
Think about digital skills like reading. Just because everyone needs to do it, doesn't mean people will just work out how to read by themselves. Rather, we put lots of resources into making sure everyone learns how in a sustained, systemic way - because we know it’s essential.
The focus of the Lloyds report shifts slightly every year. For example, during the pandemic, it focussed more on well-being than on financial stability. So some of these stats haven't been up dated but are still useful. The 2021 report included stats on what people gain from digital skills, highlighting trends that will only have increased as services and organisations become digital-first.
The information that comes out of this framework and the other data sets is not always straightforward. Here are some things that strike us:
For organisations that want to be more productive or deliver services online. Or just for people who want to live in a fair and equitable society. These numbers are big and they probably don't cover everything because, in the digital age, measuring digital capability in the non-digital population is really hard. So this may not even be the full picture.
Nearly half the people learning new working skills do so self-taught from the internet. Only 6% get formal training through work. If we want the 52% to get up to speed, we all need to recognise there's a problem and tackle it in a systematic way.
You can search for a guide, watch a tutorial, join a forum. If you don't have the capacity to do this, you can't learn it online. The lower your skills and confidence, the more likely you are to want to learn from someone you know, in person, repeatedly.
Previously Lloyds reports have tracked people by skills level (from very low to very high). While the general trend is upward, it's worth noting that it was much harder to move up from the lowest levels than up between higher ones.
The way people like to learn digital skills flips as they age.
When people are 25-34, they prefer to investigate new digital skills through self-teaching. More than half of them do this ( 57%), compared to 18% who like to reach out to people with expertise.
This gradually changes, so by the time they are 65+, only a third want to investigate for themselves (31%) compared to 45% who want help from people with expertise.
As mentioned previously, age doesn't always track to digital ability but it is the key marker, so it's safe to assume, the less digitally confident you are, the more human help you need. These preferences around learning styles also track to gender, income, social grade, education and disability.
If we want these people to take part in a digital society, we need to help them in a systematic way.
Previous Lloyds reports also saw people occasionally moving down as well as up. While encouragingly, the figures for older people generally improve, that's not true for all age groups and there was a decline in some of the younger ones. It's hard to put this down to a single cause - factors like advances in technology and the cost of living crisis pay a role. But people don't just need a single course of tech skills. It's got to be an on-going process.
More people are online than ever before. But people are still struggling profoundly as the world becomes digital first, or worse, digital only. From last year's EDS report to this one, the percentages of people who have the full sets of EDS has hardly changed. And the number of single skills that people have hasn't either. We won't get everyone living, working and thriving in a digital society but just hoping. We need consistent and concerted efforts.
The numbers
NB: if you need stats from 2024/5, you can access the 2024/5 version of this page here.