Use of devices at work is more prevalent in Malta than across the EU as a whole, with 81% using computers, laptops, smartphones or tablets – compared with the EU average of 71%.

Malta is by no means the leader in this field, however. Eurostat reported on Thursday that the leader is Netherlands (93%), followed by Denmark, Sweden (both 90%) and Finland (87%). The lowest proportions, below half of the employed internet users, were recorded in Romania (36%) and Bulgaria (47%).

At the beginning of 2018, 87% of people in the European Union (EU), aged between 16 and 74 years, had used internet at least once in the last 12 months. Of those internet users that were employed, 71% reported using computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets or other portable devices at work and 19% used computerised equipment or machinery.

The most common work activities in the EU were exchanging e-mails or entering data in databases (61%, Malta: 70%), creating or editing electronic documents (47%, Malta: 50%) and using specific occupational software (38%, Malta: 45%).

Applications to receive tasks or instructions were used by 22% (Malta: 36%) of employed internet users and social media were used for work by 18% (Malta: 32%).