Italy Shops Online Less Than Any Large EU Economy
Silver Data Lab Research Desk · Statistical analysis · Published on 20 April 2026
- Data source
- Eurostat
- Reference period
- 2025
- Last updated
- 29 August 2026
Key estimates
- 62.4% of people in the EU bought goods or services online in the three months before the 2025 survey.
- Ireland records 87.5%, the Netherlands 86.4% and Denmark 81.9%.
- Bulgaria records 34.8%, Romania 41.5% and Italy 43.8%.
- Italy is 18.6 points below the EU figure and the only one of the Union's four largest economies in the bottom five.
- Germany at 70.4% and France at 70.3% sit eight points above the EU average, which is where large western economies usually sit.
A well-behaved indicator with one badly behaved observation
Online purchasing is among the most predictable indicators in European statistics. Richer, more urbanised, more digitally skilled countries buy more online, and the ranking usually reproduces that ordering with little argument.
Across the EU, 62.4% of people bought something online in the three months before the 2025 survey. Ireland leads at 87.5%, the Netherlands follows at 86.4% and Denmark at 81.9%. Bulgaria is lowest at 34.8%, with Romania at 41.5%.
So far the ranking behaves. Then there is Italy.
The Italian outlier
Italy records 43.8%, third from bottom, between Romania and Portugal.
That position has no parallel among comparable economies. Germany records 70.4%, France 70.3% and Spain 59.6%. Italy sits 18.6 points below the EU figure and 26.6 points below Germany, and it is the only one of the Union's four largest economies anywhere near the bottom of this table.
Italy is not an outlier on income: its GDP per capita is 96 on an index where the EU is 100. It is an outlier here.
What the other indicators say about it
Italy records 54.3% on digital skills against an EU figure of 60.4%, 3.8% ICT specialists against 5.0%, and 33.5% knowledge-intensive employment against 37.5%.
Four indicators, measuring four different things, put Italy consistently below the Union average on the digital economy while its income sits close to it. That is a pattern rather than a reading, and it is the kind of consistency that survives revisions to any single series.
What this study does not claim
Why Italy buys less online than its income predicts is not answerable from purchasing data. Retail structure, payment habits, delivery logistics, the age profile of the population and trust in online transactions have all been proposed, and this extraction can test none of them.
What it establishes is narrower: the gap exists, it is large, it is not explained by income, and it appears in the same direction across several unrelated surveys.
Bought goods or services online in the last three months, 2025
| Country | % of individuals | Gap to EU averagepercentage points, derived |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 87.5 | +25.1 |
| Netherlands | 86.4 | +24.0 |
| Denmark | 81.9 | +19.5 |
| European Unionaggregate | 62.4 | — |
| Italy | 43.8 | −18.6 |
| Romania | 41.5 | −20.9 |
| Bulgaria | 34.8 | −27.6 |
What these figures cannot tell you
- A three-month recall window
- The indicator counts people who bought online in the three months before the survey. It measures recent participation, not frequency or spending, and someone who makes one purchase a year is treated the same as someone who shops weekly.
- Survey data, self-reported
- Figures come from the EU survey on ICT usage in households, based on samples. Estimates carry sampling uncertainty and depend on respondents recalling purchases accurately.
- Purchases, not value
- A country with a low participation rate may still have a large e-commerce market by value if those who do shop online spend heavily. This indicator counts people, not euros.
- Cross-border purchases are included
- Buying from a retailer in another Member State counts the same as buying domestically, so the measure describes consumer behaviour rather than the size of a national e-commerce sector.
Frequently asked questions
- How many Europeans shop online?
- 62.4% bought goods or services online in the three months before the 2025 survey. National rates ran from 87.5% in Ireland to 34.8% in Bulgaria.
- Which EU country shops online the most?
- Ireland, at 87.5% in 2025, ahead of the Netherlands at 86.4% and Denmark at 81.9%.
- Why does Italy rank so low on online shopping?
- The gap is established here; its cause is not. Italy records 43.8% against an EU figure of 62.4%, despite a GDP per capita close to the EU average. Retail structure, payment habits and demographics have all been proposed as explanations, and purchasing data alone cannot test any of them.
- Which EU country shops online the least?
- Bulgaria, at 34.8% in 2025, followed by Romania at 41.5% and Italy at 43.8%.
Methodological note
The indicator is Eurostat's share of individuals who bought or ordered goods or services over the internet for private use in the three months preceding the survey, for the total adult population.
Values are for 2025, the most recent year with complete coverage of the 27 Member States at the extraction date.
The comparisons with Italy's digital skills, ICT specialist share, knowledge-intensive employment and GDP per capita draw on companion studies published on this site, each from its own extraction. They are presented as agreement between independent sources, not as a combined estimate.
Source data
The underlying series can be inspected and re-downloaded from the Eurostat data browser. The filters below are the ones applied.
Internet purchases by individuals (2020 onwards)
isoc_ec_ib20
- Filters applied:
- freq=A · ind_type=IND_TOTAL · indic_is=I_BUY3 · unit=PC_IND · time=2025
- Extracted:
- 2026-08-11
- Source last updated:
- 2026-04-17
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