Line graph: Smartphone ownership by age group

The line graph shows the proportion of people who owned a smartphone in three age groups, 18–29, 40–59 and 65 and over, between 2010 and 2022.

Overall, ownership rose in all three groups, and the youngest group consistently had the highest rate. Although the older groups started from much lower levels, the gap between the groups narrowed noticeably by the end of the period.

Among 18–29-year-olds, ownership climbed from 28% in 2010 to 78% in 2016, and then flattened out as it approached saturation, reaching 95% in 2020 and 97% in 2022. The 40–59 group followed a similar pattern with a delay. Its figure rose from 12% to 55% in 2016, and then to 84% in 2020 and 90% in 2022.

People aged 65 and over were the slowest to adopt smartphones. Only 2% of them owned one in 2010, and the figure was still just 9% in 2014. Growth then accelerated, with ownership reaching 32% in 2018 and 52% in 2020, before it rose again to 65% in 2022. This left the oldest group 32 percentage points behind the youngest.