Almost a quarter of EU citizens have `never been online`
Baku, December 15 (AZERTAC). A quarter of citizens living in the European Union have never used the internet, according to new research.
A survey of 214,580 people aged 16 to 74 living in 149,331 households across the EU has indicated that 24% have never gone online. However, that figure was down on 42% in 2006.
The EU`s Digital Agenda for Europe strategy aims to reduce the total proportion of internet abstainers to 15% by 2015.
"For many people today it seems difficult to live without the internet; however a decreasing, but still non-negligible, part of the EU population has never used it," said official agency Eurostat, which conducted the research.
According to the the survey, the UK ranked sixth in the list of countries with the biggest proportion of internet refuseniks, at 11%.
Sweden had the lowest proportion, at just 5%, followed by Denmark and the Netherlands with 7%, Luxemburg with 8% and Finland with 9%.
The eastern European nation of Romania was at the other end of the scale, with 54% of its population having never gone online.
Overall, the survey revealed that the north of Europe is far more advanced in internet rollout compared to the poorer south and east of the landmass.
Household internet access was found to range from just 45% in Bulgaria in the east, to 94% in the Netherlands. Luxemburg, Sweden and Denmark are all above 90% coverage, while Romania boasts just 47% and Greece only 50%.
The UK has 85% of its households connected to the web, putting it ahead of Germany, Ireland, France and Spain.
Eurostat noted that 68% of households across the EU now take a fast-speed broadband connection rather than dial-up, double the 30% in 2006.
Sweden registered the highest share of broadband connections, at 86%, followed by Denmark (84%), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (both 83%) and Finland (81%). Romania (31%), Bulgaria (40%) and Greece (45%) again had the lowest.
The UK led the way in terms of e-commerce, with 82% of internet users having ordered goods or services online over the past 12 months, compared with an EU-wide average of 58%.
Eurostat found that 56% of EU internet users read news online, 54% search for health-related information, and 53% use social networks.
Meanwhile, English councils hoping to secure government cash to roll out high speed internet networks in their areas now have until February to apply.
A pot of £530m has been set aside to drive forward the expansion of high speed broadband into rural areas of the UK by the end of the 2015.
The scheme has been criticised for its stalled progress but countryside campaigners believe that the deadline could help inject more urgency into the project.
Countryside Alliance group`s chief executive Alice Bernard told BBC News: "As we saw last week, councils have been struggling to get their broadband projects moving.
"It is now up to the government to make sure that any further barriers to progress on implementing these schemes are removed, so that rural communities can finally get fast and reliable connections and start to bridge Britain`s digital divide."
Other news in this section
