Quarter of EU Population Yet to Surf the Net

We are now in the internet age, or so we say. But would you believe it if we told you that at least a quarter of the population across the European Union have never used the internet yet?

Not a joke, for official figures confirm the fact. Eurostat, the EU statistical office, did a survey across the EU’s 27 member states and revealed that 24 percent of people between the age group 16-74 years have never used the internet.

The data also showed that 32 percent of the households were still devoid of broadband connections. Countries like Bulgaria, Romania and Greece were reported to have the least levels of access to the internet.

These countries showed 50 percent or less of their households online. On the other hand, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark recorded at least 90 percent of households with internet access.

Crossing into the boundaries of UK, 8.5 million people were reported to be without access to the web. But the government is on the process of laying down superfast broadband across the country, and now 85 percent of the households have internet connections, while 83 percent have broadband.

Ireland is reported to have made good progress since 2006 and the country now hosts 65pc of homes with broadband. But a quarter still remains in ignorance of the web.