How many Romanians have Internet at home?

Almost 800,000 Romanians over the age of 16 have never used the Internet.

By Romania Journal Last updated Dec 9, 2024

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The share of households in Romania that had access to the Internet at home reached 88.6% of the total this year, up 2.9 percentage points compared to 2023, according to data published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

According to official statistics, the proportion of people aged 16-74 who have ever used the internet was 94.7%, 2.2 percentage points more than the previous year.

On the other hand, data revealed that about 800,000 Romanians over 16 have never used the Internet, while well over half of them (over 640,000) are between 55-74 years old, another 114,000 non-net users are between 35 and 54 years old and about 43,000 are between 16-34 years old, the official provider of statistical data in Romania also shows.

INS data show that, in urban areas, 92.5% of households are connected to the internet, 9.3 percentage points more than the 83.2% share of households in rural areas.

In terms of territory, internet connection was more widespread among households in the Bucharest-Ilfov region (95.2% of households have internet access at home), followed by the West (92%) and North-West (90.2%). The lowest shares of households connected to the internet are recorded in the North-East (85.1%) and South-East (85.2%) regions.

The number of people in households is an important influencing factor in terms of internet connection.

Compared to 2023, there was an increase in the share of households with internet access among households consisting of one person by 4.8 percentage points, among those consisting of two people by 3.9 percentage points, and among those consisting of 3 or more people by 0.6 percentage points.

Of the total number of people aged 16 to 74, the share of people who use or have ever used the internet was 94.7%, up 2.2 percentage points compared to 2023, of which 96.4% used the internet in the last 3 months. By frequency of internet use, among people aged 16-74 who used the internet in the last 3 months, 74% used the internet several times a day, and 19.5% used it once a day almost every day.

By development region, the highest share of people aged 16-74 who use or have ever used the internet was 97.7% in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, followed by the North-West region with 96.6% and the West with 96.5%. At the opposite end is the South-East region with 92.2%.

The shares of people using the internet decrease with age. Thus, in 2024, the share of people who use or have ever used the internet in the 16-34 age group was 98.9%, while for the 55-74 age group it reached 86.2%.

In 2023, the share of people in Romania aged 16-74 who used the internet in the last 12 months was 91.6%, 0.8 percentage points below the European Union average.

Among the 27 EU Member States, in 15 countries the share of people aged 16-74 who used the internet in the last 12 months exceeded the European average, with the highest share being recorded in Luxembourg (99.4%).

The other 12 EU Member States recorded shares lower than the EU average, with Hungary (91.8%) ranking immediately below the average, followed by Romania (91.6%), with Bulgaria (84%) at the bottom of the distribution. In 2023, Romania recorded an increase in internet use, in the last 12 months, among people aged 16-74, by 2.7 percentage points.

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