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Digital Skills in Northern Ireland

Published 29 January 2025

All tables associated with this report can be downloaded from the NISRA website.

1. Overview

This paper examines the level of digital skills of people aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland for the period April 2023 to March 2024 (referred to as 2023/24), as sourced from the Continuous Household Survey (CHS). Additional analysis of digital skills levels is also provided for sex, age, labour market status, and deprivation quintile (least and most deprived).

1.1 Key points

  • One quarter of people aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland had an advanced level of digital skills in 2023/24 (25% or 379,000 people).
  • Over one in five people (23%) had no digital skills (344,000 people).
  • A higher proportion of females reported having no digital skills (25%), and a lower proportion reported having an advanced level of digital skills (21%) when compared to males (21% and 30% respectively).
  • Over half (55%) of those aged 65 and over had no digital skills, compared to less than 10% of those aged 16 to 49.
  • Over two-fifths (43%) of those who were economically inactive had no digital skills, compared to only 10% of those that were economically active.
  • The least deprived areas in NI had a higher proportion (37%) of respondents with an advanced level of digital skills when compared to the most deprived areas (15%).

1.2 Context

This paper presents the level of advanced digital skills held by people aged 16 or over in NI and is based on data collected from the Continuous Household Survey (CHS) from April 2023 to March 2024.

Respondents to the CHS were asked whether they had used the internet in the last twelve months to access or perform a list of functions.

These functions were collated to form four digital use sub-groups:

  1. finding information online
  2. communicating online
  3. use of online services
  4. content creation
  5. using the internet safely and securely

A measure of the level of digital skills of respondents i.e. no skills, novice skills, intermediate skills or advanced skills, was derived using the five digital use sub-groups, as detailed throughout the publication.

Three of the digital use sub-groups above are broadly in line with several of the digital competence domains captured within the Eurostat Digital Skills Indicator (sourced from the ‘community survey on ICT usage by households and individuals’). In addition a ‘safety’ sub-group has been included for the NI data based on those within the ‘being safe and legal online’ aspect of the Essential Digital Skills Framework.


2. Digital skill level

This section provides an overview of the level of digital skills held for Northern Ireland (NI) as a whole, alongside further analysis by sex, age, labour market status, and deprivation quintile (least and most deprived).

The analysis contained in this section is based on the following definitions, where the sub-groups are finding information online, communicating online, use of online services, content creation, and using the internet safely and securely. (See 4.3 for more detail):

No Skills: not having accessed or performed any of the listed online functions.
Novice Skills: having used the internet for at least one and up to five of the listed functions in finding information online, communicating online, using online services, content creation or understanding internet safety features.
Intermediate Skills: having used the internet for more than five and up to ten ten of the listed functions across all sub-groups (communicating online, finding information, using online services and understanding internet safety features).
Advanced Skills: having used the internet for more than ten of the fifteen listed functions across all sub-groups (communicating online, finding information, using online services and understanding internet safety features).

2.1 Northern Ireland

Key findings:

  • The largest proportion of people aged 16 and over in NI had a novice level of digital skills in 2023/24 (29% or 435,000 people), while the smallest proportion had no digital skills (23% or 344,000 people).
  • One quarter of people had an advanced level of digital skills (25% or 379,000 people).

Figure 1: Majority of people aged 16 and over in NI have a novice level of digital skills

Digital skill level, aged 16 and over, NI, April 2023 to March 2024
Chart
Table
Digital skill level Proportion of aged 16 and over (%)
No skills 22.8
Novice skills 28.8
Intermediate skills 23.3
Advanced skills 25.1


Figure 1 presents the digital skill level of those aged 16 and over in NI. It shows that over one in five people had no digital skills (23%), meaning in the last twelve months, they had not used the internet to find information online, had not communicated online, used the internet for online services (such as internet banking or making online purchases), created content online or had not found and were not aware of a range of internet safety features.

The largest proportion of respondents had a novice level of digital skills (29%). This meant they had used the internet for more than one and up to five of the functions such as to find information online, communicated online, used the internet for online services (such as internet banking or making online purchases), created content online or had not found and were not aware of a range of internet safety features.

Similarly, one out of four respondents had an advanced level of digital skills (25%), meaning they had accessed the internet for at least ten of the fifteen functions.

The digital skill level in Northern Ireland differs across the various cohorts below.

2.2 Sex

  • Similar proportions of males and females had an intermediate level of digital skills (23% and 24% respectively).
  • A higher proportion of females reported having no digital skills (25%), and a lower proportion reported having advanced digital skills (21%) when compared to males (21% and 30% respectively).

2.3 Age
There were large differences in digital skill levels between those aged under 50 and those aged 50 and over.

  • Just under four in ten (38%) of those aged 50 and over has no digital skills compared to 1 in 10 of those aged under 50.
  • Delving into these groups further, the largest proportion of those aged 65 and over had no digital skills (55%) while for those under 50, the majority of respondents had an advanced level of digital skills (42% for those aged 16 to 24, 36% for those aged 25 to 34, and 32% for those aged 35 to 49).
  • For those aged 50 to 64 the majority had a novice level of digital skills (33.6%).

2.4 Labour Market Status
There were notable differences in digital skill level between those who were economically active and those who were economically inactive.

  • Over two-fifths (43%) of those who were economically inactive had no digital skills. There is, however, some variation in this level when compared across reasons for inactivity, with the largest proportion of those with no digital skills reported being retired (72%).
  • 1 in 10 (10%) economically inactive people had an advanced level of digital skills, in contrast to one in three (34%) of the economically active.

2.5 Deprivation quintile
Differences in digital skill levels were evident between those who were in the least deprived areas and those in the most deprived areas.

  • A higher proportion of those in the most deprived areas had no digital skills (30%) compared to those in the least deprived (15%).
  • The largest difference (22pps) was recorded between those with an advanced level of digital skills. The most deprived areas in NI had lower levels of advanced digital skills (15%) than the least deprived areas (37%).

3. Understanding digital skills

This section takes a closer look at what is actually driving these levels of digital skills in NI.

4. Further information

The information presented in this publication is derived from the Continuous Household Survey (CHS) April 2023-March 2024 (23/24), which was conducted by the Central Survey Unit (CSU) of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

A summary of further information is contained below. However users are advised to access the Digital Skills Supplementary Document or the CHS page for additional information relating to the CHS, quality and methodology.

4.1 Data Source

The questionnaire

The questionnaire has two distinct parts: a household schedule and an individual schedule. One person on behalf of the entire household answers the household schedule, while all participating adults in the household answer the individual schedule.

In a change to the previous 2 years, the questionnaire returned to a split sample. This means that depending on the serial number of the questionnaire (even or odd) the respondents would be exposed to a different set of questions for part of the questionnaire. This was implemented to reduce survey length.

The sample

The sample for the survey consisted of a systematic random sample of addresses selected from the NISRA Address Register. The NISRA Address Register is maintained by Census Branch and is created by merging the POINTER database with additional records and removing duplicates and communal establishments. The survey samples 9,000 addresses throughout the survey year (1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024). The NISRA Address Register provides a good sampling frame of addresses but contains no information about the number of people living at an address.

Each interview begins with the interviewer counting all members of the household. Anyone aged 16 or over is eligible to take part in the survey and there can be multiple respondents at each household.

For the April 2023 to March 2024 year, 4,113 households took part in the survey. Within those households, a total of 4,927 individuals took part in the survey.

4.2 Methodology and Quality information

Weighting

In order to estimate the number of people at each digital skill level, it is necessary to gross the findings from the survey to the NI population. The respondent data is weighted to the NI population by local government district, age group, and sex. This ensures that the sample is representative of the overall NI population.

Sampling error

The CHS is a sampling survey and therefore estimates obtained from it are subject to sampling variability. This means that if many samples were drawn, each would give a different result. Table 1 shows the sampling variability of the digital skill levels of NI respondents using 95% confidence intervals. We would expect that, in 95% of samples, the range would contain the true value.

Table 1: Sampling variability of digital skill level in Northern Ireland, aged 16 and over, April 2023 to March 2024
Digital skill level Proportion of aged 16 and over (%) Lower limit (%) Upper limit (%)
No skills 22.8 21.6 24.0
Novice skills 28.8 27.6 30.1
Intermediate skills 23.3 22.1 24.5
Advanced skills 25.1 23.9 26.3

Further detail on the representativeness of the sample, comparisons between CHS and the Mid-Year Population Estimates, weighting and sampling error can be found in the Digital Skills Supplementary Document.

4.3 Question and definitions

CHS question and digital use sub-groups

In a change to previous year, the questions used to derive digital skills were updated to analyse a higher level of digital skills, to capture the advanced digital user. The following questions relate to whether a respondent had used the internet in the past twelve months to access or perform a list of functions.

In the past 12 months have you used the internet for any of the following? (Select all that apply)

  • Used advanced features of a search engine (e.g. filter/date)
  • Verified information or content found on the internet (e.g. checking other sources)
  • When I face a technical problem, I am able to find solutions on the internet
  • Used advanced video conferencing features (e.g. moderating, recording audio and video)
  • Created a digital profile (e.g. Facebook or Instagram) for personal or professional purposes
  • Filled out an online form (e.g. job application)
  • Downloading or installing software or apps
  • Transferred files between folders, devices, or on the cloud
  • Accessed or downloaded media online (e.g. YouTube, Netflix, Spotify)
  • None of the above

Have you carried out any of the following software and safety related activities in the last 12 months? (Select all that apply)

  • Written code in a programming language (e.g. a script or macro)
  • Created or made changes to files (e.g. presentation, document, video) integrating text, pictures, tables or charts
  • Managed or analysed data using spreadsheet software (e.g. using excel or google sheets)
  • Installed and/or configured protection software and services (e.g. antivirus, anti-malware, firewall)
  • Identified a suspicious or malicious email
  • Restricted or refused access to personal information (e.g. geographical location)
  • None of the above

With the exception of ‘none’, all other responses were subsequently grouped into four different aspects of digital use (sub-groups). Table 2 below shows the 15 online functions and the sub-group they are included in.

Table 2: Digital use sub-groups and online functions
Online function
Finding information online
Used advanced features of a search engine
Verified information or content found on the internet
When I face a technical problem, I am able to find solutions on the internet
Communicating online
Used advanced video conferencing features
Created a digital profile for personal or professional purposes
Filled out an online form
Use of online services
Downloading or installing software or apps
Transferred files between folders, devices, or on the cloud
Accessed or downloaded media online
Content creation
Written code in a programming language
Created or made changes to files integrating text, pictures, tables or charts
Managed or analysed data using spreadsheet software
Using the internet safely and securely
Installed and/or configured protection software and services
Identified a suspicious or malicious email
Restricted or refused access to personal information

Definitions

Below are the definitions of terminology used throughout the report.

Labour Market Status
Analysis is provided for those who are economically active and economically inactive within this publication. Economically active are those aged 16 and over who are either in employment or unemployed. The economically inactive are people who are neither in employment nor unemployed. This group includes, for example, all those who were looking after a home or retired.

Employment
People aged 16 or over who did at least one hour of paid work in the reference week (whether as an employee or self-employed); those who had a paid job that they were temporarily away from; those on government-supported training and employee programmes and those doing unpaid family work.

Unemployment
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines unemployment as those aged 16 and over without a job who were able to start work in the two weeks following their interview and had either looked for work in the four weeks prior to interview or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained.

Deprivation Quintile
The Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure is the official measure of spatial deprivation for NI and comprises seven domains of deprivation as follows: income, employment, health, education, proximity to services, living environment and crime. Where 1 is the most deprived and 5 is the least deprived. Further details on deprivation measurement in NI can be found at Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 (NIMDM2017)

Percentage calculation

Proportions are calculated as a percentage of the total population of grouping. For example, the percentage of no skills for the 16 to 24 age group is calculated by dividing those aged 16 to 24 who had no digital skills by the total population of 16 to 24 year olds.

Rounding

Throughout this report, figures less than 100 are rounded to two-significant figures.

5.Contact

If you require further information about the figures contained in this publication or the accompanying tables, would like to provide feedback on the publication content, or be added to the mailing list please contact:

Patrick O’Kane

Email: Patrick.OKane@nisra.gov.uk
Web: Digital skills in Northern Ireland