Brussels, 16/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Increasing numbers of people are surfing the Internet and more frequently using it (almost 2/3, 65% of people aged between 16 and 74) on a daily basis this year throughout the EU, according to the most recent statistics from Eurostat, the EU's Official Statistics Office. In 2006, this figure stood at just 31%. Over the same period, the percentage of people never having used the Internet fell from 43% in 2006 to 18% in 2014.
Cloud computing provides file saving and massive file sharing opportunities and was used this year by one in five people aged between 16 and 74 (21%). Unsurprisingly, it is mainly young people who are using it (35% of 16 to 24-year-olds).
Eurostat also indicates that only a minority of cloud computing service users (11%) used pay-for services. Using files from several devices or locations, easily sharing files with other persons and getting protection against data loss were the main reasons for using cloud services in 2014.
Cloud services were particularly popular in Denmark (42%), the United Kingdom (38%), Luxembourg and Sweden (both 35%) and the Netherlands (34%), while this share was less than 10% in Lithuania, Poland and Romania (all 8%). (IL)