Development: Internet use in Europe

Nearly half of the people in the 25 countries of the European Union (EU25) used the internet at least once a week in 2006
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Northern European countries (and scandinavian ones in particular) are still the most internet-friendly, more than southern european ones. Of course, the climate gives a little hand...
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A third of households and 3/4 of enterprises had broadband internet access. Internet access increased from 48% of households in early 2005 to 52% in 2006. 32% had a broadband connection, compared to 23% in 2005. At the beginning of this year, 94% of enterprises had access to the internet (91% in 2005), and 75% had a broadband connection (63% in 2005). In 2006, 47% of the people use the internet regularly, at least once a week, whether at home or at any other location. This is the result of surveys carried out by Eurostat (the european statistical office) on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The survey includes Norway and Iceland. The surveys also covers broadband connections, e-commerce, e-government and e-skills.

Internet access in European homes ranged from 23% in Greece to 80% in the Netherlands
The Netherlands had the highest proportion of households with internet access (80%), Denmark (79%), Sweden (77%). The lowest levels were registered in Greece (23%), Slovakia (27%) and Hungary (32%). The highest part of enterprises with internet access was in Finland (99%), Denmark and Austria (both 98%) and the Netherlands (97%). Only in Latvia (80%), Cyprus (86%), Lithuania (88%) and Poland (89%) were fewer than 90% of enterprises connected to the internet. Broadband offers a much faster connection to the internet. The Netherlands had again the highest share of broadband connection (66%), followed by the "usual suspects" Denmark (63%), Finland (53%) and Sweden (51%), and lowest in Greece (4%), Slovakia (11%), Cyprus (12%) and Ireland (13%). Amongst enterprises the highest levels of broadband connections were recorded in Sweden and Finland (both 89%), Spain (87%) and France (86%), and the lowest in Poland (46%), Cyprus (55%), Lithuania (57%) and Latvia (59%).

The internet is very popular among young people, nearly 3/4 of young people use the internet at least once a week. The highest share of individuals regularly using the internet were recorded in Sweden (80%), Denmark (78%), the Netherlands (76%) and Finland (71%), and the lowest in Greece (23%), Cyprus (29%), Italy and Portugal (both 31%). Interesting is also the fact that more men use the internet regularly than women (51% to 43%) and this disparity increases with age.

Get the results here.