UK minorities keenest on technology, study finds

CONSUMERS from ethnic minor­ity groups are among the keenest in Britain to embrace new technology, a study has found.

The study found that use of technology among ethnic minorities was higher than among the rest of the population. Picture: PA

They are more likely to have home broadband and a mobile phone, although they are less likely to watch television and
listen to the radio, compared with the British population as a whole, according to the research by Ofcom.

It found 37 per cent of people from ethnic minority groups “say they love gadgets”, compared with 30 per cent of the British population as a whole, while 32 per cent say it is important that their homes are equipped with the latest technology, compared with 20 per cent of all Britons, rising to 47 per cent of Asian Indians.

The study compared the largest ethnic groups – Asian Pakistani, Asian Indian, Asian Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean, Black African, mixed ethnic groups and “other white” – with ethnic minority groups combined and the British population as a whole.

Mobile phones are generally more important to people in ethnic minority groups than the wider British population.

More than half of the mixed ethnic (57 per cent), Asian Pakistani (58 per cent), Asian Bangladeshi (57 per cent), Black African (56 per cent) and Asian Indian (54 per cent) groups said they could not do without their mobiles, compared with 43 per cent of the British population.

In the Asian Bangladeshi group, one in five (20 per cent) claims to have at least five mobiles in their households, compared with 5 per cent of the British population. People in the Black African group said they were the most computer-savvy.

A smaller proportion of all ethnic minority groups included in the study (90 per cent) have a television at home, compared with the British population as a whole (96 pere cent), while half of those in the Asian Bangladeshi group (50 per cent) have just one television in their home.