The bar chart illustrates the proportion of households in the United Kingdom with Internet access across different income groups between 2002 and 2010.
Overall, there was a clear upward trend in Internet access among all income groups throughout the period. It is also evident that households with higher incomes consistently had much greater Internet access than those with lower incomes.
In 2002, the percentage of low-income households with Internet access was approximately 20%, while the figure for middle-income families stood at around 45%. During the same year, about 65% of upper-middle-income households had access to the Internet, compared with roughly 80% among the highest-income group. Between 2002 and 2006, there was a steady increase in all categories, with the most notable growth observed among middle-income households, which rose by about 15 percentage points.
From 2006 to 2010, the trend continued to rise across all groups. By 2010, almost 90% of high-income families were connected to the Internet, compared with about 70% of upper-middle-income households. Meanwhile, the proportion for middle-income groups reached nearly 60%, and even low-income families saw a gradual climb to roughly 40%. Although all groups improved, the gap between the richest and poorest households remained significant.