The FINANCIAL — In the last three months prior to the 2019 survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, one in two EU citizens (53%) aged 16-74 reported that they sought online health information related to injury, disease, nutrition, improving health or similar. This was two percentage points (pp) higher than the previous year (53% compared with 51%) and up by 19 pp from 2009 (32%).
Online health information: most popular in Finland, least popular in Bulgaria
In 2019, the share of people aged 16 to 74 who reported to seek health information online for private purposes varied across Member States. The highest share was recorded in Finland, where 76% of internet users searched online for health-related topics in the last three months prior to the survey, followed by the Netherlands (74%), Cyprus (69%), Denmark (67%) and Germany (66%).
In contrast, the lowest shares were observed in Bulgaria (30%), Romania (31%), Italy (35%), Poland (47%), Latvia and Slovenia (both 48%).
Cyprus reports highest increase in seeking health information online, Luxembourg smallest
Over the last decade, the share of individuals seeking health information online has risen across all EU Member States. The highest increase was recorded in Cyprus (+53 pp), followed by Croatia (+37 pp), Czechia (+36 pp) and Greece (+35pp), while the lowest increases were observed in Luxembourg (+4 pp, break in time series in 2018), France (+13 pp), Italy (+14 pp) and Romania (+15pp).
