One in six adults lack digital skills
Date published:
This paper examines the level of digital skills of people aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland for the period April 2024 to March 2025 (referred to as 2024/25), 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).
Key points
Over a third of people aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland had an above basic level of digital skills in 2024/25 (37% or 566,000 people).
Almost one in five people (16%) had no digital skills (249,000 people).
Similar proportions of females reported having no digital skills (17%), basic digital skills (47%) and above basic digital skills (36%) when compared to males (16%, 47% and 37% respectively).
Those respondents aged 65 and over were four times as likely to report that they had no digital skills (41%) than those aged 16 to 49 (10%).
Almost a third (32%) of those who were economically inactive had no digital skills in contrast to only 6.2% of those who were economically active.
The least deprived areas in NI had a higher proportion (49%) of above basic digital skills when compared to the most deprived areas (29%).
Over two-fifths (45%) of respondents with no qualifications reported having no digital skills, compared to 6.7% of those with at least degree level qualifications.
The proportion of people with no disabilities reporting above basic digital skills was 12 percentage points (pps) higher than those with disabilities.
The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the Digital Skills in Northern Ireland page.