The Dutch more active on internet 03/03/2008 00:00

The Dutch are increasingly active on the internet, but are nonetheless lagging behind the rest of Europe in terms of web skills.

3 March 2008

VOORBURG – The Dutch are increasingly active on the internet, but are nonetheless lagging behind the rest of Europe in terms of web skills.
 
This emerged on Monday from figures published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). 11 million people in the Netherlands use the internet regularly. Young people are on the whole more active than older people.

Nearly all internet users say they use search engines to find information. About 86 percent regularly send emails with attachments. Chatting, visiting newsgroups, file-sharing and phoning via internet are considerably less popular – only about one in three internet users engages in these activities. Two in ten Dutch design web pages themselves.

Older people used the internet in 2007 almost exclusively to search for information or email. Young mainly used the internet for other activities like chatting (54 percent), phoning via internet (50 percent) or sharing music or films (57 percent).

In 2007 one in seven Dutch internet users was very skilful at using the internet. Although that share has doubled over the past two years, it is just slightly higher than the EU average. The Netherlands is a leader in Europe in facilities for internet use.

The CBS says the Dutch are lagging a bit behind many other Europeans, who are often more adventurous in using different online applications and activities.

Internet use is most intensive in Estonia, Finland and Denmark. The Netherlands is in the middle of the spectrum, along with Hungary and Spain. The Irish, Belgians and Cypriots are least skilled at using the internet, according to CBS.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2008]