Millions still not online across the EU

Almost a quarter of people throughout the European Union have still never used the internet, official figures have revealed.

EU statistical office Eurostat said that 24 per cent of people aged 16-74 across the EU's 27 member states had never been online.

And it said 32 per cent of households were still without broadband connections.

The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark all recorded at least 90 per cent of households having internet access. But countries including Bulgaria, Romania and Greece had some of the worst levels of access, with all three countries showing 50 per cent or less of their households online.

The UK, where 8.5 million people haven't used the web and where ministers want the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015, was now said to have 85 per cent of households with internet connections and 83 per cent with broadband.

In a statement Eruostat said: "For many people today it seems difficult to live without the internet, however a decreasing, but still non-negligible, part of the EU population has never used it."

This article first appeared on our sister site publicservice.co.uk