Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: November 2024

The following information is from data collected from 6 November to 1 December 2024, based on adults in Great Britain.

• When asked about the important issues facing the UK today, the most commonly reported issues were the NHS (86%), the cost of living (85%), the economy (68%), crime (60%), climate change and the environment (59%), and housing (57%).

• When asked to what extent people trust the government to use artificial intelligence (AI) to complete some of its tasks; 30% agreed (3% strongly agreed and 27% agreed), 30% neither agreed nor disagreed, and 40% disagreed (12% strongly disagreed and 27% disagreed).

• Men (34% compared with 26% of women) and younger adults (35% among those aged 16 to 29 years and 35% aged 30 to 49 years compared with 25% among those aged 50 to 69 years and 23% aged 70 years and over) were more likely to report they would trust the government to use AI to complete some of its tasks.

• When asked what public services adults would trust, if any, to use AI to complete some of their tasks, the most commonly reported public services were in transport (37%), healthcare (36%) and education (31%), with fewer adults reporting trust for this in defence (20%) or social care (22%).

• When asked what types of use of AI in public transport they would feel comfortable with, around half of adults (53%) stated identifying fraud, followed by analysing data to inform policy (49%) and measuring the environmental impact of transport projects (44%); using AI in self-driving vehicles (15%), managing air traffic and flight routes (19%) or replying to communication from the public (21%) were uses with which fewer adults reported feeling comfortable with.

• When asked if the use of artificial intelligence (AI) would benefit them, 43% of adults strongly agreed or agreed; this is at its highest in the latest period but has generally remained stable since we started asking this question in November 2023.

• The majority of adults had heard of cryptocurrency; 7% of adults reported having heard of cryptocurrencies and that they could explain them in detail, 42% reported having heard of them and that they could give a partial explanation of what they were, 43% reported they had heard of cryptocurrencies but could not explain what they are and 8% of adults reported they had never heard of cryptocurrencies.

In the latest period (6 November to 1 December 2024), the NHS (86%) and the cost of living (85%) remain the two most commonly reported important issues facing the UK (Figure 1).

While reporting the NHS as an important issue has remained relatively stable since we first started asking the question in October 2022, the proportion reporting the cost of living as an important issue has decreased slightly (from 93% in October 2022 to 85% in the latest period), as has the proportion reporting the economy (from 79% in October 2022 to 68% in the latest period).

Reporting of climate change and the environment, or housing as an important issue facing the UK has generally remained stable since October 2022, with 59% and 57% of adults, respectively reporting this in the latest period.

By contrast, the proportion of adults reporting crime (60%) and immigration (52%) as an important issue has increased compared with October 2022, when these proportions were 49% and 43%, respectively.

This mirrors our latest data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales that show headline crime incidents (theft offences, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury) have increased by 10% from 8.4 million incidents in the survey year ending June 2023 to 9.2 million in that ending June 2024.

It is important to note that this increase may be explained because the year ending June 2023 survey's reporting period (July 2021 to May 2023) still contained times of social restrictions related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is too early to tell if this change represents a short-term fluctuation or the start of a new trend.

Our latest data on long-term international migration to year ending June 2024 show net migration into the UK provisionally stood at 728,000. This is 20% lower than our updated net migration estimate for the year ending June 2023 (906,000), which is the highest level we have seen.

Figure 1: The NHS, the cost of living, and the economy have been the most commonly reported important issues facing the UK since October 2022

Proportion of adults reporting each important issue, Great Britain, October 2022 to November 2024

Notes

1. Question: "What do you think are important issues facing the UK today?". 
2. Base: All adults.
3. Respondents could select more than one option.
4. The length of each data collection period presented in this time series may be different.

Estimates of important issues by age group are available for all time periods collected in Table 25 of the Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: personal well-being and loneliness dataset provided with this release.

For the first time in the latest period, we asked adults in Great Britain to what extent do they agree or disagree with the following statement, "I trust the government to use artificial intelligence (AI) to complete some of its tasks":

• 30% strongly agreed (3%) or agreed (27%)

• 30% neither agreed nor disagreed

• 40% strongly disagreed (12%) or disagreed (27%)

Men (34% compared with 26% of women) and younger adults (35% among those aged 16 to 29 years and 35% among those aged 30 to 49 years compared with 25% among those aged 50 to 69 years and 23% among those aged 70 years or over) were more likely to report that they would trust the government to use AI to complete some of its tasks.

When asked about what specific public services adults would trust, if any, to use AI to complete some of their tasks, around 6 in 10 (58%) adults reported they would trust at least one public service (Figure 2).

The most commonly reported public services were:

• transport (37%)

• healthcare (36%)

• education (31%)

Adults were less likely to report they would trust the use of AI to complete some tasks in the public services of defence (20%) and social care (22%).

Figure 2: 37% of adults reported they would trust AI to be used to complete some of the tasks of public transport services

Proportion of adults reporting public services they would trust to use artificial intelligence (AI) to complete some of their tasks, Great Britain, 6 November to 1 December 2024

Notes

1. Question: "Which public services, if any, would you trust to use artificial intelligence (AI) to complete some of their tasks?".

2. Base: All adults. 

3. Respondents could select more than one option. The "At least one" category is the proportion of adults who chose at least one of the presented options. The "None" category represents respondents who reported they would not trust the use of AI to complete some tasks in any of the public services presented. Estimates and associated confidence intervals for all response categories are provided in the datasets associated with this release. 

4. The definition of AI presented to respondents is available in the dataset provided with this release.

Men (64% compared with 52% of women) and younger adults (65% among those aged 16 to 29 years, 64% among those aged 30 to 49 years, 50% among those aged 50 to 69 years and 50% among those aged 70 years or over) appeared more likely to report they would trust the use of AI to complete tasks in at least one of the public services we asked about.

When asked what types of use of AI in public transport specifically they would feel comfortable with, around half of adults (53%) reported identifying fraud, 49% reported analysing data to inform policy, and 44% reported measuring the environmental impact of transport projects.

Using AI in self-driving vehicles (15%), managing air traffic and flight routes (19%) or replying to communication from the public (21%) were uses with which less adults reported feeling comfortable with (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Adults were most likely to feel comfortable with the use of AI in public transport for uses including identifying fraud

Proportion of adults reporting different uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in public transport they would feel comfortable with, Great Britain, 6 November to 1 December 2024

Notes

1. Question: "Which of the following uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in public transport, if any, would you feel comfortable with?".

2. Base: All adults.

3. Respondents could select more than one option. The "At least one" category is the proportion of adults who chose at least one of the presented options. The "None" category represents respondents who reported they would not feel comfortable with the use of AI in any of the uses of AI in public transport presented. Estimates and associated confidence intervals for all response categories are provided in the datasets associated with this release.

4. The definition of AI presented to respondents is available in the dataset provided with this release.

Younger adults (78% among those aged 16 to 29 years, 83% among those aged 30 to 49 years, 65% among those aged 50 to 69 years and 62% among those aged 70 years or over) more frequently reported being comfortable with the use of AI for at least one type of use in public transport.

When asked in the latest period if they thought the use of AI would benefit them, 43% of adults agreed (7% strongly agreed and 35% agreed).

This proportion is at its highest in the latest period but has generally remained stable since we started asking this question in November 2023 (Figure 4).

Figure 4: The proportion of adults reporting they agree that AI will benefit them is at its highest in the latest period but has generally remained stable since we started asking in November 2023

Proportion of adults reporting the extent to which they agree that artificial intelligence (AI) will benefit them, Great Britain, November 2023 to November 2024

Notes

1. Question: "To what extent do you agree or disagree that artificial intelligence (AI) will benefit you?".
2. Base: All adults.
3. The definition of AI presented to respondents is available in the dataset provided with this release.
4. The length of each data collection period presented in this time series may be different.

Men (49% compared with 37% of women) and younger adults (53% among those aged 16 to 29 years, 53% among those aged 30 to 49 years, 34% among those aged 50 to 69 years and 26% among those aged 70 years or over) were more likely to report they strongly agreed or agreed AI will benefit them.

Estimates of attitudes towards AI are available in our Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: artificial intelligence dataset provided with this release.

In previous periods, we have also asked respondents other questions about AI such as their views on the benefits and risks of AI, whether they recognise when it is used, what learning about it they have undertaken or what aspects they would like to know more about. Please see previous editions of the dataset associated with this release for estimates from these questions.

Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital asset. The most common examples are Bitcoin and Ethereum, with the value of Bitcoin reaching record highs in December 2024.

For the first time, in the latest period, we asked respondents if they had ever heard of cryptocurrencies.

The majority of adults had heard of cryptocurrency, with 7% of adults reporting having heard of cryptocurrencies and that they could explain them in detail, 42% reporting having heard of them and that they could give a partial explanation of what they were, and 43% reporting they had heard of cryptocurrencies but could not explain what they are; 8% of adults reported they had never heard of cryptocurrencies.

Men (12% compared with 2% of women) and younger adults (10% among those aged 16 to 29 years, 11% among those aged 30 to 49 years, 5% among those aged 50 to 69 years and 2% among those aged 70 years or over) were more likely to report they had heard of cryptocurrencies and could explain what they were in detail (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Men and younger adults were more likely to have heard of cryptocurrencies and report they could explain what they were in detail

Proportion of adults reporting knowledge of cryptocurrencies by age and sex, Great Britain, 6 November to 1 December 2024

Notes

1. Question: "Have you ever heard of cryptocurrencies?".
2. Base: All adults.
3. Confidence intervals for all estimates shown are available in the dataset provided with this release.

When asked if they have ever bought, used or currently hold any cryptocurrencies, 7% of adults reported that they had.

This was highest among men (12% compared with 2% of women) and younger adults (9% among those aged 16 to 29 years, 13% among those aged 30 to 49 years, 3% among those aged 50 to 69 years and 1% among those aged 70 years or over).

Among those adults who had ever bought, used or currently held cryptocurrencies, around 1 in 6 (17%) reported they had used cryptocurrencies to complete transactions.

Estimates of cryptocurrencies knowledge and usage are available in Table 13 to Table 15 of our Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: household finances dataset provided with this release.

Information on businesses' use and holding of cryptocurrency is available in our Business insights and impact on the UK economy release. When asked during the period 18 November to 1 December 2024, 96% of businesses reported they had not used, accepted or conducted any transactions involving cryptocurrencies in the last 12 months, with 4% being unsure. The same proportion (96%) of businesses reported they did not hold cryptocurrency as part of their assets or were unsure (4%).

The Financial Conduct Authority have examined in more detail the use and ownership of cryptocurrency. This research shows that awareness and ownership of cryptocurrencies in the UK had increased from 2020 to 2024.

The analysis in this bulletin is based on adults aged 16 years and over in Great Britain.

In the latest period, 6 November to 1 December 2024, we sampled 8,353 households. This sample was randomly selected from people who had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS) or Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN). The responding sample for the latest period contained 3,379 individuals, representing a 40% response rate.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population, based on our population estimates. Estimates for some groups of the population may be subject to greater uncertainty because of smaller sample sizes for these groups (for example, younger adults).

For all estimates in the datasets, confidence intervals are provided. Where changes in results from previous weeks are presented in this release, or comparisons between estimates are made, associated confidence intervals should be used to assess the statistical significance of the differences.

Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in our Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).