Individuals with at least basic digital skills
- Eurostat dataset
- isoc_sk_dskl_i21
- Reference period
- 2025
- Unit of measure
- % of individuals
Key estimates
- EU aggregate (2025): 60.4 % of individuals.
- Highest value: Netherlands at 83.6 % of individuals; lowest: Albania at 27.6 % of individuals.
- Cross-country mean 58.2 % of individuals, standard deviation 15.7, coefficient of variation 27.0% across 37 reporting countries.
- Aggregate change 2021→2025: +6.9% on a constant panel of 36 countries.
How digitally capable is the European population? Eurostat dataset isoc_sk_dskl_i21 reports individuals with at least basic digital skills for 37 reporting countries, with 2025 as the most recent period carrying broad coverage. The European aggregate stands at 60.4 % of individuals. Basic digital skills are measured through self-reported task performance across five competence areas.
The five highest values in 2025 are recorded by Netherlands (83.6), Ireland (82.8), Denmark (81.5), Finland (81.0), Norway (79.8), all expressed in % of individuals. At the opposite end of the distribution sit Albania (27.6), North Macedonia (28.5), Türkiye (31.5), Romania (31.8), Bosnia and Herzegovina (36.2). The ratio between the highest and the lowest observation is 3.02, while the median country reports 59.5 % of individuals against a mean of 58.2 % of individuals.
Dispersion is moderate: the standard deviation across countries is 15.7 % of individuals, giving a coefficient of variation of 27.0%. The mean sits below the median, which indicates that the distribution is pulled by the lower tail rather than being symmetric. Any European average quoted for this indicator therefore describes a synthetic country that few Member States resemble.
Between 2021 and 2025 the summed value across the 36 countries reporting in both periods moved by +6.9%. The largest relative increases are observed in Bulgaria (+22.7%), Germany (+21.7%), Italy (+19.0%); the largest decreases, or the smallest increases, in North Macedonia (-17.7%), Slovenia (-6.4%), Montenegro (-6.4%). Because the panel is held constant, this change is not an artefact of countries entering or leaving the sample.
Higher values are the policy-preferred direction for this indicator, so the countries listed at the bottom of the distribution mark the effective size of the European gap: closing it to the level of the fifth-ranked country would require the lowest performer to move by 52.1 % of individuals. The estimates above are reproducible: the dataset identifier, filter dimensions and reference period are stated in the methodological note, and the series can be re-downloaded from the Eurostat dissemination API at any time.
Methodological note
Source: Eurostat, dataset isoc_sk_dskl_i21 ('Individuals' level of digital skills (from 2021 onwards)'), extracted from the Eurostat dissemination API (JSON-stat 2.0) on the dataset update of 2026-04-17. Filter dimensions: indic_is=I_DSK2_BAB; unit=PC_IND; ind_type=IND_TOTAL. Unit of measure: % of individuals. Reference period: 2025. Geographic perimeter: national reporting units with two-character geo codes (37 countries with a non-missing observation); European and euro-area aggregates are excluded from the cross-country statistics and reported separately. Descriptive statistics (mean, median, population standard deviation, coefficient of variation) are computed unweighted over reporting countries. Change over time is computed on a constant panel: only countries with a non-missing observation in both the base and the reference period enter the calculation, which removes composition effects but may differ from the officially published aggregate. No imputation, seasonal adjustment or re-scaling has been applied beyond what Eurostat performs at source. Flagged provisional and estimated observations are retained as published.
Source data
The underlying series can be inspected and re-downloaded from the Eurostat data browser.