The EU 2014 Digital Scoreboard: how did you fare?
29 May 2014 02:33 PM
New data shows the Commission is
on track to complete 95 of its 101 digital actions by 2015, which shows good
progress. EU citizens and businesses are going online more, shopping more and
they have greater confidence and skills in ICT. However, they often lack the
high speed broadband – especially in rural areas - to satisfy this
digital appetite; and the looming digital skills gap is still a big problem
(see MEMO/14/383).
European Commission
Vice-President @NeelieKroesEU said: “Most Europeans now live
digital lives and they are hungry for more. We have solved the internet access
problem. But the digital skills gap persists. Unless we all do more, we will
face a digitally illiterate underclass in Europe."
Check your own country results here!
Watch video
here!
The good news:
-
Regular Internet use up: the
number of people who use the Internet at least once per week has increased from
60% to 72% since 2010. Most improved: Greece, Romania, Ireland, the Czech
Republic and Croatia.
Best performers (over 90% using
internet) Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands and Luxembourg 87% of US adults use the
Internet.
-
Big progress among disadvantaged
groups: usage by unemployed people, those with low education levels and
older groups, is up to 57% from 41% four years ago. On current trends the
target of 60% will be reached before 2015.
-
Non-users are down a
third: 20% of people in the EU have never used the Internet (down a third
since 4 years ago). If the current trends persist, the DAE target to
get the number down to 15% by 2015 will be met.
-
Lots more of us shop
online: 47% of EU citizens are now shopping online, up 10 points, meaning
the target of 50% by 2015 is likely to be achieved.
-
Access secured: 100% of
Europeans now have access to broadband, usually this includes several options
(fibre, cable, ADSL or 3G/4G mobile access), but all Europeans have now have
affordable access to satellite broadband as a minimum.
Fast broadband
technologies: 4G mobile broadband availability increased sharply to
59%, up from 26% a year ago. Fixed lined internet of at least 30 Mbps is
available to 62% of EU population, up from 54% a year ago and 29% in 2010. Fast
broadband is already available to 90% of homes or more in Belgium, Denmark,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and UK.
The remaining
challenges:
-
Small businesses are missing
out: Only 14% of businesses with under 250i employees are selling
online. Across the EU, not a single country comes close to achieving the
EU average target of 33% by 2015.
-
Europe’s rural areas at
risk: only 18% of rural households have access to high-speed
broadband.
-
eGovernment services in 2013
stagnated. They ware used by only 42% of the EU population. Continuing at this
rate will not see Member States achieve the target of 50% by
2015.
|
EU average
|
Broadband
|
2014
|
Target
|
Basic broadband coverage for
all
|
100%
|
100% (2013)
|
Digital single
market
|
|
|
Population buying
online
|
47%
|
50% (2015)
|
Cross-border
eCommerce
|
12%
|
20% (2015)
|
SMEs selling
online
|
14%
|
33% (2015)
|
Digital
inclusion
|
|
|
Regular internet
use
|
72%
|
75% (2015)
|
Regular internet use by
disadvantaged people
|
57%
|
60% (2015)
|
Population never having used the
internet
|
20%
|
15% (2015)
|
Public services
|
|
|
Citizens interacting online with
public authorities
|
42%
|
50% (2015)
|
Citizens returning filled-in
forms to public authorities electronically by 2015
|
21%
|
25% (2015)
|
Today the Commission has also
published the 11th edition of the eGovernment Benchmark. The report shows that
citizens are still substantially more satisfied with online private services
(such eBanking) than with online public services (such the information on
employment). There are more eGovernment services online, however, they are not
always easy to use, not speedy or transparent. These obstacles prevent people
to use eGovernment more.
Background
The European Commission aims at
creating a regulatory and business climate that
will foster competition and investment in Europe’s digital
technology markets.
In 2013 the Commission proposed
concrete measures to create a Single Telecoms Market, in order to address many of
the problems confirmed in today's data.
The 2014 Digital Agenda
Scoreboard assesses progress at EU and national level in achieving
this goal, as measured against the 13 key performance indicators. The report is
based on 2013 data.
The Commission has so far
completed 72 of 101 actions under the Digital Agenda for Europe. 23 further
actions are scheduled for completion by their deadline. 6 have been delayed or
are at risk of being delayed.
Useful links
Digital Agenda Scoreboard
Scoreboard country profiles: look at broadband, Internet use,
eGovernment, telecoms regulatory and research trends for each EU
country
MEMO/14/383 Does digital technology create or kill jobs? Do
Europeans have the digital skills needed to get a job and keep a
job?
Scoreboard infographic
Digital
Agenda
Neelie Kroes
Follow Neelie on Twitter
Hashtags: #DAEscoreboard #connectedcontinent
i :
This refers to SMEs, i.e. 10-249
employees