More than one in ten Brits has never used the internet, according to a new study from the European Commission.

Data published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, showed 83 per cent of households across the country have a broadband connection, up from just 44 per cent in 2006.

In total, 85 per cent of British residential properties have some form of internet access - 22 percentage points more than five years ago.

While the figures regarding broadband connectivity are positive, the research also discovered a significant number of people aged between 16 and 74 have still never been online.

Eurostat found 11 per cent of Brits in this demographic have not used the internet, down from 29 per cent in 2006.

Across the 27 EU member states, the proportion of adults who have never accessed the web stands at 24 per cent, although this number is substantially lower in Iceland (four per cent), Norway (five per cent) and Sweden (five per cent).

Only a third of UK citizens aged 16 to 74 use the internet to obtain information from the websites of public authorities, compared to almost half throughout the EU as a whole.

However, 82 per cent of Brits have gone online to order goods or services for private use, more than anywhere else in the EU.

According to the government-backed Race Online 2012 campaign, which is aiming to make the UK the first country in the world where everyone can use the web, 8.4 million adults in Britain have never accessed the internet.

Some 38 per cent of these people are unemployed, 39 per cent are over 65 and 19 per cent are families with children.

Prime minister David Cameron commented: "In the internet age, we need to ensure that people aren't being left behind as more and more services and business move online."

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