UK - Scotland and especially SW Scotland lag the UK in Internet use

The Office of National Statistics has published Internet Access Quarterly Update, 2012 Q1. It identified the key points as being:

• At 2012 Q1, 8.12 million adults (16.1 per cent) had never used the Internet. This is about 1 per cent lower than 2011 Q4 and 7 per cent lower than 2011 Q1
• There were 42.16 million adults (83.7 per cent) who had ever used the Internet at 2012 Q1
• Men (86.1 per cent) were more likely to be Internet users than women (81.3 per cent)
• By region, the South East had the highest rate of Internet users (86.9 per cent); Northern Ireland was the lowest (75.1 per cent)

The estimates, which are experimental, are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Individuals (000s)	Ever used					Never used
	2011 Q1	2011 Q2	2011 Q3	2011 Q4	2012 Q1	2011 Q1	2011 Q2	2011 Q3	2011 Q4	2012 Q1
Scotland	3,442	3,454	3,476	3,501	3,533	807	801	774	762	736
North Eastern Scotland	356	368	361	368	377	86	76	74	73	60
Eastern Scotland	1,381	1,379	1,394	1,387	1,382	256	269	256	252	262
South Western Scotland	1,465	1,463	1,477	1,488	1,521	414	416	394	394	365
Highlands and Islands	240	245	244	259	253	51	39	51	44	48

Scotland continues to lag UK levels of Internet adoption by about 1.3per cent, with no evidence of catching up. It is South-West Scotland which appears to be dragging Scotland down, still with 19.3 per cent of non-users.

Percentage of population	Ever used					Never used
	2011 Q1	2011 Q2	2011 Q3	2011 Q4	2012 Q1	2011 Q1	2011 Q2	2011 Q3	2011 Q4	2012 Q1
UK	82.2	82.3	82.9	83.5	83.7	17.5	17.4	16.8	16.3	16.1
Scotland	80.9	81.1	81.5	82.0	82.6	19.0	18.8	18.2	17.8	17.2
North Eastern Scotland	80.5	82.7	82.7	83.1	86.0	19.4	17.2	16.9	16.4	13.8
Eastern Scotland	84.3	83.6	84.4	84.5	83.9	15.7	16.3	15.5	15.3	15.9
South Western Scotland	77.8	77.6	78.6	79.0	80.6	22.0	22.1	21.0	20.9	19.3
Highlands and Islands	82.4	86.2	82.5	85.2	83.2	17.6	13.8	17.2	14.6	15.8