Abstract
Digital divides are globally recognised as a wicked problem that threatens to become the new face of inequality. They are formed by discrepancies in Internet access, digital skills, and tangible outcomes (e.g. health, economic) between populations. Previous studies indicate that Europe has an average Internet access rate of 90%, yet rarely specify for different demographics and do not report on the presence of digital skills. This exploratory analysis used the 2019 community survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals from Eurostat, which is a sample of 147,531 households and 197,631 individuals aged 16-74. The cross-country comparative analysis includes EEA and Switzerland. Data were collected between January and August 2019 and analysed between April and May 2021. Large differences in Internet access were observed (75-98%), especially between North-Western (94-98%) and South-Eastern Europe (75-87%). Young populations, high education levels, employment, and living in an urban environment appear to positively influence the development of higher digital skills. The cross-country analysis exhibits a positive correlation between high capital stock and income/earnings, and the digital skills development while showing that the internet-access price bears marginal influence over digital literacy levels. The findings suggest Europe is currently unable to host a sustainable digital society without exacerbating cross-country inequalities due to substantial differences in internet access and digital literacy. Investment in building digital capacity in the general population should be the primary objective of European countries to ensure they can benefit optimally, equitably, and sustainably from the advancements of the Digital Era.
Highlights
The digitalisation of society is a process that has been occurring over the past seven decades, but has been significantly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic
What is striking is the large spread of data, which can be attributed partially to the heterogeneity in how data was collected, and highlights that it may be ill-advised to interpret the European Union as a homogenous region in terms of digital skills
The findings of this article highlight that Europe cannot be considered a monolith when it comes to internet access or digital skills
Summary
The digitalisation of society is a process that has been occurring over the past seven decades, but has been significantly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In its 2016 Skills Agenda for Europe, the European Commission first recognised the great necessity for digital skills development [8] as – at the time of writing – almost half of the European Union’s (EU) population lacked basic digital skills, while 20% had none at all This is even more problematic considering the rapid progression into the Digital Age due to the COVID-19 pandemic— the shifts in healthcare and public health [9,10,11,12], and to wider determinants in health, such as ways of working and access to education [3,10,13,14]. Digital skills can no longer be considered luxuries; they are foundational to modern governance, societal and economic functioning, and access to parts of the healthcare and public health systems [14]—as reflected by the European Skills Agenda 2020 update [19]
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