What are young people doing online?

The internet has become an indispensable part of the daily lives of young people. Dutch youngsters are among the best in Europe when it comes to digital skills. Virtually all young people aged between 12 and 25 years use the internet (almost) daily. Boys and girls do not differ in their digital skills, but there are differences in the reasons for using the internet and the devices at their disposal.

In 2019, 96 percent of the Netherlands’ 2.7 million young people aged 12 to 24 years were online (almost) daily. Ninety-nine percent can use a smartphone to go online, 96 percent can (also) use a laptop or netbook and over 63 percent can use a PC. Just over 58 percent use a game console with the internet, but this group contains a lot more boys (almost 72 percent) than girls (over 44 percent).

Nearly all young people (97 percent) have an account with one or more social networks, such as Facebook. Chatting via social networks such as WhatsApp is popular, with 95 percent doing so. Twenty-seven percent also have a business account, such as LinkedIn. Ninety percent of young people send emails and 78 percent make calls via the internet.

Girls look for more information about health

Most young people use the internet to find information. More than 79 percent look for information about goods and services, such as sports shoes or a study programme, and almost 63 percent read the news online. When looking for information on health, which 65 percent do, the differences between boys and girls are large, with the boy-girl ratio being 60 percent and 70 percent, respectively. Girls also use the internet more often than boys to upload photos and music, for example.

Show tableInternet use by young people aged 12 to 24 yrs, 2019 (%)Hide tableInternet use by young people aged 12 to 24 yrs, 2019 (%)

Internet use by young people aged 12 to 24 yrs, 2019 (%)

activiteit	Boys	Girls
Looking for information about goods and services	81.0	77.8
Looking or applying for a job	32.2	36.3
Looking for information about health	59.5	70.0
Reading or downloading newspapers	64.2	61.4
Uploading photos, music, documents, etc.	58.0	69.1

Young people very digital savvy

The fact that Dutch youngsters use the internet a lot probably makes them more digitally skilled.

In 2019, 72 percent of young people had more than basic digital skills. A person’s digital skills are determined on the basis of the person’s performance in four sub-areas. The sub-area communication had the highest share of young people with more than basic skills (94 percent). These basic skills include e-mailing, making calls via the internet, using social networks and uploading files. Young people who have more than one of these skills fall into the category ‘more than basic skills’.

Eighty-six percent of young people have more than basic skills in both sub-areas information (such as searching for information online, moving files and storing photos in the cloud) and computers/online services (e.g. online shopping, installing apps and taking a course over the internet). In the sub-area software, 83 percent of young people had more than basic skills. This sub-area includes the use of word processing applications, writing software, and spreadsheets.

Show tableAbove basic skills of young people, component indicators (% of persons aged 12 to 24 yrs)Hide tableAbove basic skills of young people, component indicators (% of persons aged 12 to 24 yrs)

Above basic skills of young people, component indicators (% of persons aged 12 to 24 yrs)

Vaardigheden	2019	2015
Communication	94	89
Information	86	83
Computers / online services	86	81
Software	83	79

Boys and girls do not differ in digital skills: Seventy-one percent of boys and 72 percent of girls have more than basic skills. Together with Croatia and Estonia, the Netherlands ranks among the leading countries in the European Union with the highest percentage of young people (16 to 24 years) who have more than basic digital skills. This percentage is lowest in Romania (22 percent) and Bulgaria (29 percent).

The questions

1. How does CBS calculate the figures?
2. How do we use our land?
3. How fast is the population growing?
4. How are the various animal species doing?
5. What are our top concerns?
6. Where do the emigrants go?
7. Who use social media the most?
8. How isolated do we feel?
9. What are our favourite wedding dates? What about partnership registrations?
10. How many under-18s are receiving youth assistance?
11. What about cyber crime?
12. What are the most popular majors?
13. What are the major religions?
14. How many overnight stays?
15. How many people shop online? And the items they buy...
16. Who are eligible to vote?
17. What are young people doing online?
18. How many adults smoke or have smoked?
19. Where were people in the Caribbean Netherlands originally born?
20. Where do Caribbean Dutch children live?
21. How much internet usage in the Caribbean Netherlands?
22. How many people (never) work from home?
23. How many millionaires in the Netherlands?
24. Has our purchasing power gone up or down?
25. Which jobs have the highest levels of mental fatigue?
26. How many employees are members of a trade union?
27. How many passengers flying into and out of the Netherlands?
28. How much nitrogen is emitted at livestock farms?
29. How many dwellings in the Netherlands?
30. How much is our average mileage in electric cars?
31. What do we import from China?
32. Which prices are up, which are down?
33. What is our production of frozen fries?
34. How many enterprises in the Netherlands?
35. How much energy do we get from biomass?
36. How much do we recycle?
37. Which flower bulbs are most common?
38. What is the impact of coronavirus?