United Kingdom

Highlights

  1. Internet Society rates the choice of Internet service providers as fair.
  2. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland received a security preparedness score of 99.54 on the 2023 Global Cybersecurity Index. Its e-government system readiness score is 63.42.
  3. As of 2024, the population of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was 69,226,000.
  4. Out of the 1000 most-visited websites, 72% can be reached on a local server or cache in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This exceeds Internet Society's target of 50%.
  5. Internet Society gives United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland an overall Internet resilience score of 59%, which means it has medium capacity to withstand unexpected faults or challenges to normal operation.
ccTLD
.uk
Flag of United Kingdom
Region
Europe
Sub-region
Northern Europe
Population
69,226,000
Classification
  • High income country

Internet Usage Permanent link

Internet penetration

95%

of the population used the Internet at least once over a 3-month period

90%
Europe average
1990199520002005201020152020

Usage by gender

Proportion of the population that uses the Internet, by gender

Note: Measurement methods vary by country.

  • Female: 94%
  • Male: 95%

Average download speed

Based on an average of 300 users

  • 90.47 Mbps
    Broadband
  • 49.02 Mbps
    Mobile

Average Internet cost

< 1%

of average income (GNI) is needed to cover a low-consumption basket, using at least 3G technology.

2018201920202021202220232024

Network Infrastructure Permanent link

Broadband coverage

Broadband connections per 100 inhabitants

41.55
2010201220142016201820202022

Mobile 4G and 5G coverage

  • 100%
    has access to at least one device with 4G mobile Internet
  • 76%
    has access to at least one device with 5G mobile Internet

Active networks

The building blocks of the Internet, identified by Autonomous System (AS) numbers.

2,185
active networks

International connections

Routes to the global Internet

Upstream diversity is

Very Good
More than 2 connections to the global Internet improves the ability to recover from unexpected events.

Adoption of IPv6

45%
of users can access online resources using IPv6, the new generation of the Internet Protocol
33%
Europe average
20212022202320242025

Market Overview Permanent link

Data centers

Number of data centers in operation

245

active data centers

Internet Exchange Points

21

IXPs in United Kingdom

7
Europe average
15% of 3,074

registered networks connect via an IXP

2019202020212022202320242025

Total number of IXP members in United Kingdom

Locally cached content

72%

of the top 1000 websites in United Kingdom can be accessed through an in-country server or cache

70%
Europe average

Top Internet service providers

Top Internet Service Providers (ISPs) by market share

  • British Telecommunications: 28%
  • Sky UK: 22%
  • Virgin Media Limited: 18%
  • TalkTalk Communications Limited: 7%
  • Vodafone Limited: 6%

Digital public services rating

The UN's measure of a country's e-government ecosystem readiness

93.47

Country-level domain use

10,231,761

domains registered using .uk, the country code top-level domain (ccTLD).

Market competition

Fair

market competitiveness for Internet customers and end users

Security Permanent link

Global Cybersecurity Index

Estimates the ability of a country or economy to prevent and manage cyber incidents

100 / 100

Routing security practices

The use of resource public key infrastructure (RPKI), which connects IP prefixes to the correct autonomous system (AS)

ROA

Route origin authorization uses a cryptographic signature to certify network announcements

  • 76%
    of IPv4 prefixes protected
  • 82%
    of IPv6 prefixes protected

ROV

Route origin validation filters out route announcements

  • 33%
    of networks are using ROV to filter out invalid prefixes and networks

DNSSEC status

  • Active

DNSSEC coverage

3%

of all domains under the ccTLD are protected with DNSSEC

10%
Europe average

Adoption of DNSSEC

16%

of DNS queries are protected by DNSSEC, across all web traffic

46%
Europe average

Footnotes Permanent link

The geographic boundaries and country names shown do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Internet Society concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities. Regions and Sub-Regions are taken from the UN Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use (Series M, No. 49).

Pulse uses the most recent possible data from international sources. For some indicators in Pulse, the source data may be updated more frequently. For more information on how often we update individual data points, see the Indicator page.