Over 100 million Europeans have never used Internet

Almost one third of the 500 million people living in the European Union has never used the Internet and there is a wide division between northern Europe, most experienced technology issues, and the south and east, poorer, according to agency Eurostat statistics.  Thus, more than half the population of Romania and just under half of those living in Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus and Portugal do not have Internet access at home.

Moreover, the figures underline the lack of opportunities for the population of the poorest communities to participate in developments like the Internet, which has provided products and services at lower cost to millions of people.  Another of the most surprising results of the survey was that Spain , a modern economy within Europe, has a relatively modest rate of Internet access and electronic commerce: only 64 percent of households are connected and only 39 percent of the population buys online, according to the figures.  The countries with the lowest usage rates also tend to be those with the least number of fixed broadband connections and those who make less use of electronic commerce.