Over 80 per cent of the population aged between 16 and 74 are active on social media, the second highest rate of use across Europe, new data shows.

According to Eurostat – the European Union’s statistics office – 82 per cent of the population were active on social networks in 2016, which included as many as 96 per cent of all those aged between 16 and 24.

The figures also show that 51 per cent of the older population – those aged between 65 and 74 years – were active users last year.

In both age groups, social media use is significantly higher than the average use in other Member States. The EU average for the population as a whole stood at 63 per cent while that for younger people was 88 per cent and for the older generation a mere 32 per cent.

Online videos are also popular in Malta, where the third highest rate of use was registered. While the EU average for watching videos via the internet stood at 62 per cent, in Malta 79 per cent of the population said they use the net to view videos.

Meanwhile, 83 per cent of the population also claim to look for information online while 79 per cent said they read news online. 

Yet, while using the internet to interact with others is extraordinarily popular in Malta, this does not apply to the use of phone or video calls online.

According to the data, only 48 per cent of the population use the internet to make these kinds of calls, with 63 per cent of young people using it for this purpose. The rate for older people stood at 45 per cent.

The use of online services related to travel and accommodation was also found to be relatively unpopular, with only 51 per cent of the population making use of such services.

Still, both online calling and use of the internet for travel services were higher than the EU average.

And while 80 per cent of the population use e-mail, this was the only activity identified by the statistics office where the population in Malta scored lower than the EU average of 86 per cent.

claire.caruana@timesofmalta.com