Ireland ranks dead last in reading news online and has one of the highest percentages of booking travel and holiday accommodation in Europe.

A 2017 edition of Eurostat’s ‘The life of women and men in Europe’ shows there are large differences in how Irish men and women use the internet and how that compares to the rest of the EU.

On average 72 percent of men and 68 percent of women use the internet to read news online, whereas in Ireland, only 53 percent of men do and less than half of women (46 percent) who use the internet read news online. These figures are enough to rank Ireland last out of all EU countries and not exactly close to the second lowest country France (Men: 57%; Women: 55%).

When it comes to online shopping, Ireland is right up there with the highest spending nations. Sixty seven percent of men and women have booked travel and holiday accommodations in the last year, 15 and 16 percent over the EU average respectively.

According to the report, Irish men and women use the internet in a lot of similar ways but there are some categories where there are differences.

The report also shows what men and women are buying when they are online shopping. Overall, 68 percent of women buy clothes and sports goods online and 17 percent buy electronic equipment. On the other hand, only 53 percent of men use the internet for buying clothes and sports goods and 35 percent buy electronic goods.

In total, 74 percent of women spend time on social media compared to 66 percent of men. It’s the opposite story searching for jobs online however where twenty percent of men seek employment online which is just below the EU average, but only 14 percent of women do (less than two-thirds of the average).

The full report can be found here.

By Shane McGannon