Half of EU citizens log onto the web every day

But divide found between North and South

9 December 2009 15:06 GMT / By Duncan Geere

According to research published in the New York Times, half of Europe logs onto the Internet every single day. Well, nearly - half of EU citizens aged 16-74 do, and three quarters of its 16-24 year-olds do, too.

However, a divide exists between the North and South of the continent. A whopping 77% of Dutch homes have broadband access, whereas the figure is just 33% in Greece. Perhaps they go to the beach more instead. In Britain, where our beaches are a little better than the Netherlands, but not much, the figure is 63%.

Just over a third of Europeans aged 16-74 have bought goods and services online in the past 12 months, but the figure varies from 2% in Romania to 63% in Sweden and the Netherlands. 40% of men have ordered from the Web, but only 34% of women have.

The UK government has detailed its plans to pump up Britain's broadband infrastructure in its Digital Britain report, however progress has been derailed somewhat by Peter Mandelson's intervention, which has proved unpopular in many quarters.

Via: nytimes.com

Full tags

Software, Statistics, Internet, Online