A total 80.7 per cent of households in Malta and Gozo had access to the internet last year, while regular internet users reached 239,225 (73.2 per cent of the population aged 16 to 74).

The National Statistics Office said internet access in households last year increased by 1.9 percentage points when compared with the previous year.

Households with children were more likely to have internet access at home, while just over half the households with one adult member and without children had an internet connection.

The highest percentage of computer and internet use was registered within the 16 to 24 age cohort, while the older population aged 65 to 74 recorded the lowest internet usage level (35 per cent).

In 2014, 69.7 per cent of internet users also made use of a mobile internet connection.

The share of internet users making use of e-government services stood at 55 per cent.

An increase in e-government usage was noted in the majority of age cohorts.
In 2014, 64.2 per cent of internet users also shopped online. Clothes and sports goods were the most commonly shopped items (42.1 per cent) followed by holiday accommodation (26.3 per cent) and transport arrangements (24.1 per cent).

The survey results also showed that 82.6 per cent of computer users knew how to use the ‘copy and paste’ tool, while 79.4 per cent knew how to copy or move a file or folder.

In 2014, 31.6 per cent of internet users made use of cloud computing services.