EU Broadband Coverage Reaches 72% of Households vs 80% in the UK

The European Union (EU27) has released its latest annual ‘Internet use in households and by individuals in 2012‘ report, which found that 76% of EU households now have internet access (up from 66% in 2009) and 72% of EU homes connect via broadband (up from just 57% in 2009).

The data, which was published by the EU’s statistical office (Eurostat), also highlighted “sigificant” differences between countries. For example, several countries had household internet penetration of 90%+ (e.g. the Netherlands (94%), Luxembourg (93%) and Denmark and Sweden (both 92%)), while others had just over 50% (e.g. Bulgaria (51%), Greece and Romania (both 54%)).

Unfortunately the United Kingdom’s data, unlike all of the other countries listed, appears to be a year out of date. As a result our stats are probably slightly higher than reported. Still the UK does reasonably well. Some 83% of households now have internet access (up from 77% in 2009) and 80% are on a broadband connection (up from 69% in 2009).

Elsewhere e-mail usage, as well as finding information about goods or services, remain the most common online activities within the EU27 during 2012 (89% and 83% respectively). Meanwhile 61% said they read online news, 54% used internet banking services, 52% posted messages to social media and 50% used services related to travel.

EU Internet use in households and by individuals in 2012
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STAT-12-185_en.htm