The amount of time British adults spend on the internet has doubled in the past decade, with the rising use of mobile phones and tablets leading to the average adult spending almost a day per week online.
The stats, published by the UK's broadcasting regulator Ofcom in its annual Media Use and Attitudes Report 2015, show that on average people over the age of 16 spent an estimated 20.5 hours a week online in 2014, up from 9.9 hours in 2005.
Ofcom surveyed 1,890 adults for its report, which shows the rising popularity of smartphones and tablets has contributed to a marked increase in the use of the internet outside of the home or office. Four in 10 adults are now using tablets, whereas in 2010 - the year the iPad was first released - that figure was just 5%.
The report also demonstrates that 16 to 24-year-olds are responsible for the biggest jump in internet use since 2005, with that age group using the internet for well over a day each week. In 2005 they spent 10 hours 24 minutes a week on the internet; by 2014, it was 27 hours 36 minutes.
However, data from the EU's statistics agency Eurostat shows the UK is not the most addicted to the internet when it comes to daily use.
As of 2014, 94% of the population in Iceland use the internet at least once a day, followed by 89% in Norway and 87% in Luxembourg. The UK comes eighth with 81% of the population using the internet at least once a day, which is more than double the number recorded in 2005. The country with the lowest proportion is Romania, with just 32% of the population going online daily.
In terms of the percentage of the population who use the internet at all, according to Internet Live Stats which tracks internet users by country, Iceland also had the highest proportion of the population online with 96.5%, closely followed by Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.
89.9% of the UK population are using the internet. The lowest proportion in Europe according to the stats is Ukraine, with 37.4%.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Luke is a reporter at Newsweek Europe based in London covering politics, business, science and technology. @HurstWords
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