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Recent Eurostat data from 2025 on digital skills among teenagers shows a clear pattern across Europe. Girls aged 16 to 19 are very active in everyday digital tasks, yet programming remains an area where boys usually dominate. Cyprus is the only country where this pattern is reversed.
Strong everyday digital skills across the EU
Teenage girls across the EU report high participation in activities such as managing files, using word processing tools, creating documents that combine text and visuals, editing media, and working with spreadsheets. In many of these tasks, their participation rates are higher than both boys and the general population.
However, when it comes to coding, participation drops. Around 10% of girls said they had written code in the three months before the survey, compared with 19.8% of boys. Overall, 14.9% of young people reported coding activity.
Cyprus breaks the pattern
Cyprus stands apart from all other EU member states. It is the only country where girls are more likely than boys to have written code.
- 6.29% of girls reported coding
- 2.02% of boys reported coding
- Girls exceed boys by 4.3 percentage points
Although the total share of teenagers coding in Cyprus is relatively low at 3.84%, the gender balance is unique within the EU.
A contrast with the rest of Europe
In every other EU country with available data, boys have higher coding rates than girls. In some cases, the gap is very large, exceeding 20 percentage points. In others, the difference is small but still present.
Cyprus is the only case where girls lead, making it an exception in the European data.
