89% of Cypriots got their news from online sources in 2021

Cyprus is one of the countries in the EU with the largest percentage of users using the internet to access online news sites, newspapers and news magazines, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In 2021, 89% of all people in the EU aged between 16 and 74 years said they had used the internet at least once within the three months prior to the survey date. According to the same data, 72% of these EU internet users aged 16-74 said that they read online news sites, newspapers or news magazines in that period.

Some indicative other uses of the internet that were among the options given to respondents in the survey were sending and receiving email, telephone or video calls, use of social media, education, accessing a wiki, watching television or listening to the radio, playing or downloading games and streaming or downloading video.

The percentage of internet users in Cyprus that were reading news online in 2021 was 89%.

This percentage marked an increase of 16 percentage points (pp) compared to 2016 when the share was at 73%.

On an EU level, the percentage of internet users reading online news increased by 2 pp during the same period.

Among the EU Member States, the highest percentages of internet users reading news online were registered in Finland (93%), Lithuania and Czechia (both 92%) and Croatia and Greece (both 90%).

The lowest usage was reported in Romania (59%), Germany (62%), France (63%), Italy (64%) and Belgium (67%).

Compared with 2016, internet usage for reading online news increased more (3 pp increase) among women than men (+2 pp increase) in 2021, but in general, men were more likely to use the internet for reading news than women (74% vs 71%).

In Cyprus, this percentage was 89% among men (compared to 76% in 2016) and at 88% among women (compared to 70% in 2016).

When considering age, reading ‘online news sites/newspapers/news magazines’ was the most popular in the age range of 25-54 years (75%). Both this age group and the 55-74 group (68%) registered increases of 3 pp and 2 pp, respectively. The 16-24 age group remained unchanged at 68% compared to 2016.

In Cyprus, using the internet to read news online was most popular in the age range of 25 - 54 (91%, an increase of 15 pp compared to 2016), followed by the 16 - 24 age group (89%, 16 pp increase) and the 55 - 74 age group (82%, 5 pp increase).

The percentage of internet users that used it for news increased the most in rural areas (65% in 2016 to 69% in 2021), followed by those living in cities (74% to 76%), but remained stable at 70% for those living in towns and suburbs.

In Cyprus, the greatest increase was recorded among people living in cities (from 75% to 95%), followed by those living in rural areas (from 71% to 83%) and towns and suburbs (from 72% to 80%).

People with high formal education (85%) were generally more likely to use the internet for ’reading online new sites/newspapers/news magazines’ than those who had not achieved such a level of education (57%).

In Cyprus, 96% of people with high formal education were also more likely to use the internet for reading news online, than those with no or low formal education (78%).