Twenty per cent of the Maltese population last year used the internet for shopping, according to statistics issued yesterday in Brussels.

On the occasion of Safer Internet Day, to be marked on Monday, Eurostat, the EU's statistical arm, published a selection of statistics dealing with internet activities, security concerns and virus attacks in the EU based on research and surveys conducted in the 27 EU member states over the last two years.

Although Malta's internet activity is still lower than the EU average, it is gaining ground swiftly.

Last year, 45 per cent of the population aged 16 to 74 said they used the internet over the previous three months while 20 per cent said that they even made a purchase.

The average of internet users in the EU 27 stood at 57 per cent last year with the most internet-friendly member states being Denmark (81 per cent), Sweden (80 per cent) and Finland (79 per cent).

On the other hand, most of the new member states are still in their internet infancy: Romania is at the bottom of the league with only 24 per cent of its population saying that they used the internet last year.

Shopping is also gaining popularity with 30 per cent of the EU population stating that they made an e-purchase. Once again the most avid users are the Scandinavians.

Eurostat's research also showed that Maltese internet users are also among the most prone to contract a computer virus.

Thirty four per cent of Maltese internet users said that during the past year they had a virus which affected their computer, the third most common prevalence in the EU following Greece and France. The same amount of Maltese respondents said that they had to make safety copies of their files in order to make sure that none of the data stored on their machines are lost.

E-banking is slowly becoming a necessity for Maltese internet users. Forty eight per cent said they used internet banking last year, four percentage points above the EU average which stood at 44 per cent.

Finland (84 per cent) and neighbouring Estonia (83 per cent) had the highest users of internet banking.

The Safer Internet Day is part of a global drive to promote a safer internet for all users, in particular younger people, and is organised by Insafe, a European internet safety network co-funded by the European Commission.

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