EU member states make unequal progress towards Digital Single Market: EU report

The European Commission released a report on digital progress in the European Union (EU) on Monday, which shows that EU member states are at very different stages in the development of the digital economy.

Some countries, such as the Nordic countries, are among the most advanced in the world, whilst others still have a lot of catching up to do, said the report.

Europe's Digital Progress Report (EDPR) analyzed developments in five different aspects including connectivity, digital skills, use of the Internet, integration of digital technology by businesses, digital public services, as well as a set of country reports with country specific data.

A total of 22 percent of European homes subscribe to fast broadband access of at least 30 Mbps (megabits per second), more than seven times higher than in 2010.

Belgium, the Netherlands, and Malta are the leaders in Europe in fast broadband take-up, while Croatia, Greece, Italy and Cyprus are at the bottom of the list, said the report.

Moreover, 76 percent of people in the EU now use the Internet regularly and only 16 percent have never gone online.

However, in some countries, like Bulgaria and Romania, as much as half of the population are still digitally excluded.

In addition, the progress in online sales by European companies is slow. Some 16.7 percent of them sell online, an increase of only 3.5 percentage points over five years.

Large companies are more active with 38 percent of them selling online, a gain of 7 percentage points over the last five years, which indicates the gap between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies' use of e-commerce is increasing.

The European Commission said the aim of this report was to achieve a real digital union by monitoring the implementation of digital reforms in member states to grasp the opportunities available to citizens and businesses of the Digital Single Market. Endit