Band 7+: The graphs give information about computer ownership as a percentage of the population between 2002 and 2010, and by level of education for the years 2002 and 2010.

The bar charts illustrates the proportion of data about computer ownership, with a further classification by level of education, from 2002 to 2010.

Overall, computer ownership rose constantly over the period, with people with higher levels of education having higher levels of computer ownership.

Taking a closer look at the data, computer ownership amongst the whole population stood at around 50% in 2002, and this figure rose gradually by roughly 5% each year to reach approximately 75% in 2010.

Throughout the period, those with higher levels of education were more likely to own a computer. Those with postgraduate qualifications, bachelor’s degrees, and college qualifications had rates of computer ownership of roughly 75%, 70%, and 55% in 2002, respectively, revealing a clear correlation between qualifications and computer ownership. By 2010, rates of ownership had increased by similar amounts for these three groups to around 95%, 90%, and 87%, respectively. In contrast, high school graduates and those without a high school diploma started the period with much lower rates, at 38% and 18%, but these percentages increased dramatically to reach 70% and 45% in 2010, respectively.