Internet skills

Every April and May Statistics Netherlands conducts a sample survey of ICT use by households and individuals. The survey is held among 4 thousand respondents aged 12 to 75 years.

The ICT survey comprises questions on activities related to Internet use. To measure Internet skills, activities the respondent has indicated having undertaken are taken into account.

These include the following activities:
- using a search engine to find information;
- sending an e-mail with attachment(s);
- posting in a chat room, news group or on a message board;
- telephoning via the Internet;
- sharing folders with others to exchange music, films etc.;
- designing a webpage.

Respondents are subsequently classified as follows:
- no skills: has undertaken none of the above activities;
- low skills: has undertaken one or two of the above mentioned activities;
- average skills: has undertaken three or four of the above activities;
- high skills: has undertaken more than four of the above activities.

The figures on Europe refer to the population aged 16 to 74 years.