The line graph compares the percentage of households in the UK that owned five different types of technologies, namely CD player, telephones , computers, the internet and DVD players, between 1997 and 2001, at 1-year intervals.
Overall, the proportion of households in the UK that owned three different types of technology- telephones, the Internet and DVD players- followed an increasing trajectory, albeit to varying degrees, with the figures showing significant increases. Similarly, the figures for CD players and computers followed broadly similar upward trajectories throughout the period. It is also evident that, despite the figure for CD players increasing slightly over the period, it remained dominant throughout.
When it comes to the Internet, the figure started at 10%, which was lower than that of the other technologies. After that, it almost doubled to 20% in 1998, before levelling off at 20% in the middle of the period. In the final years, it increased threefold to 60%. The figure for telephones followed a comparable pattern. In 1997 and 1998, it stood at 20%, before increasing by ten percentage points to 30% in 1999. Following this, it inched up to 40% in 2000, and then reached its highest point of roughly 75% in 2001. Turning to DVD players, the figure stood at 18% in 1998, having fallen from 28% in 1997. The figure staged a slight recovery to 20% in 1999, and it then gradually increased in the following years. By 2001, it had settled at 50%.
The figure for Computers revealed a rather different pattern. it stood at approximately 40% at the beginning of the period, and then marginally increased to 50% over the next two years. The proportion rose steadily, ending the period at 70%. The figure for CD players almost mirrored the pattern observed for computers. It accounted for 70% in 1998, up from 60% in 1997, and then remained unchanged at 70% in 1999. The figure increased sharply to 80% at the end of the period.