Internet use has seeped into the lives of the Maltese with almost half the population using it every day, according to a Eurostat survey.

The survey showed that 62 per cent of respondents said they used the internet regularly – most, 60 per cent, at least on a weekly basis – and 70 per cent of households now have an internet connection.

Young people are by far the most frequent users of the net. Apart from using the technology to send e-mails, 79 per cent of those aged 16 to 24 years said they regularly used the internet to communicate through social networks and blogs.

Although other age groups are also users of social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Hi5, they are less interested in communicating with strangers or online friends.

Among those in the 25-54 year age category, only 42 per cent said their internet use included social networking and the percentage falls to 18 per cent among internet users in the 55-74 age bracket.

Eurostat said the internet had been rapidly gaining ground in Malta following the same trend as Europe.

Seventy per cent of all Maltese households were connected to the net, most of them (69 per cent) through broadband. In just four years, since 2006, internet connections in Maltese households increased by 17 per cent.

Children seem to be one of the main reasons why parents decide on installing an internet service at home and 95 per cent of households with children had an internet connection. The average in the EU for this category was lower and stood at 84 per cent.

Among households with no children, the presence of the internet in Malta falls to 62 per cent.

On an EU level, the survey shows that, this year, the highest shares of internet access were recorded in the Netherlands (91 per cent), Luxembourg (90 per cent), Sweden (88 per cent) and Denmark (86 per cent) with the lowest in Bulgaria (33 per cent), Romania (42 per cent) and Greece (46 per cent).