Half of the Maltese go online daily
75% of households have web access
More than half the Maltese aged between 16 and 74 use the internet every day, a new EU survey reveals.
Four years ago, the number going online daily was 42 per cent but it has now risen to 55 per cent, reflecting the internet’s growing importance in everyday life.
Three quarters of Maltese households now have access to the worldwide web, an increase of 22 per cent since 2007 and slightly higher than the 73 per cent EU average.
Still, 30 per cent of the Maltese population have never used the net, higher than the 24 per cent average across the EU.
The highest proportion of internet-illiterate citizens is found in the poorest EU countries, Romania and Bulgaria, with 54 and 46 per cent respectively.
However, in other member states that enjoy a higher standard of living than Malta, the proportions are significantly higher than they are here.
Household internet access levels of 90 per cent and over were recorded in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark. The same countries have the lowest shares of those who have never used the internet, below 10 per cent.
The EU is aiming to reduce the percentage of those who never used the internet to just 15 per cent by 2020.