In 2021, around 67% of the EU population (16-74 years) bought/ordered goods or services over the Internet in the 12 months prior to the survey. This proportion peaked at 93% in three Dutch regions (Drenthe, Utrecht and Zeeland). In general, the propensity to consume was very high Ecommerce in all but one of the remaining Dutch regions (with the exception of Limburg), all Danish regions, all but two Swedish regions, two out of three Irish regions and Corse (France).
Source record: isoc_r_blt12_l
The Bulgarian regions of Yugoiztochen and Severen Tsentralen had the lowest proportion of people using the internet to buy goods or services via the internet (26% and 27% respectively in 2021).
Around 58% of the EU population now used the internet for banking in the three months leading up to the survey. At least 90% of people used internet banking in all regions of Denmark, Finland (data for Åland are not available) and 8 out of 12 regions of the Netherlands. Finland’s Helsinki-Uusimaa capital region had the highest share of internet banking (96%). Every region of Bulgaria and Romania (except for the capital regions of Yugozapaden and Bucureşti-Ilfov) reported that less than a quarter of all people used internet banking; this was also the case in Kentriki Elláda in Central Greece.
One of the most common activities on the Internet was participating in social networks, for example via Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter. In 2021, almost three fifths (57%) of the EU population participated in social networks in the three months before the last survey. The participation rate of young people aged 16-29 years (83%) was almost four times higher than the corresponding rate of older people aged 65-74 years (23%).
Source record: isoc_r_iuse_i and isoc_ci_ac_i
In 2021, there were 19 NUTS 2 regions across the EU where at least three quarters of the population aged 16-74 participated in social networks.
The 21 regions where less than 45% of people participated in social networks were exclusively in Germany (NUTS 1 regions) and France. Some of these have been identified as predominantly rural or outermost regions. Participation in social networks was particularly low in the eastern German regions of Thuringia, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt (each with shares between 34 and 37%) and in the outermost regions of La Réunion (35%) and Guadeloupe ( 36%) in France.
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Methodological Notes:
- This article presents the regional data NUTS 2 level. At NUTS 2 level there are 242 regions.
- Germany, Greece, Poland and Turkey: NUTS 1 data.
- Croatia and Albania: national data.
- Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland: break in time series.
- Data not available for:
- Liechtenstein
- France: Mayotte
- Finland: Åland
- Norway: Oslo and Viken
- Norway: Agder and Sør-Ostlandet
- Norway: Vestlandet
- Norway: Svalbard and Jan Mayen
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