Education and income determine digital skills of Belgians

Households
Education and income determine digital skills of Belgians

According to the new European definitions, which apply since 2021, 54% of Belgians (aged 16 to 74) have at least a basic knowledge of digital skills.

On average, men score slightly higher than women (57% versus 52%).

The digital divide is significant between people with a low level of education (26%) and those with a high level of education (77%).

This gap is about the same width between people from a household in the lowest income quintile[1] (32%) and those in the highest quintile (79%).

A breakdown by socio-economic situation shows that students have the most digital skills (75% with at least basic knowledge), while this is 64% for employed people.

The unemployed (42%) and pensioners (31%) are clearly less digitally literate.

A comparison between the regions shows that Brussels scores best (62% with at least basic knowledge) compared to 54% in Flanders and 51% in Wallonia.

All details can be found in the downloadable tables.


[1] The first quintile group represents 20% of the population with the lowest income and the fifth quintile group represents the 20% of the population with the highest income.