Cypriots well advanced in new technologies

Cyprus is among the most advanced EU candidate countries in terms of computer ownership, Internet users and holders of mobile phone, according to information published by Eurostat. Despite Cyprus' high ranking in terms of the use of the Internet, however, Cyprus is the only EU candidate country to have registered a fall in the number of Internet users between 1999 and 2000.

According to data for 1999, Cyprus ranked third among the 13 EU candidate countries in terms of how many Cypriots owned a computer. According to the report, there are 16,7 computers for every 100 inhabitants on the island. Slovenia ranked top, with 25,3 computers per 100 persons, a number which exceeds the EU average for 1999 (24,8 computers), followed by Malta with 18,1 computers. Bulgaria and Romania were at the bottom of the least, with 2,7 computers per 100. The average number of computers in EU candidate countries was 5,2 per 100 inhabitants.

As far as the use of the Internet is concerned, Cyprus ranked fifth in 2000 with 10,6 Internet users per 100 inhabitants. Estonia topped this part of the survey, with 26,3 Internet users per 100, which is above the EU average of 24,3. Slovenia ranked second (15,2 users per 100), while Turkey had the lowest percentage of Internet users (2,9 per 100 inhabitants). It is noteworthy that Cyprus is the only one of the 13 candidate countries to have recorded a fall in the number of Internet users between 1999 and 2000 (1999: 11,7 users).
With reference to mobile phones for 2000, Cyprus ranked fifth with 26,2 mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Slovenia has the most mobile phone users (57,4 per 100), followed by Estonia with 32. Bulgaria was bottom of the list, with 8,2 cellular phone subscriptions per 100. On average, EU candidate countries had 17,2 mobile phone subscriber per 100 inhabitants. The corresponding EU average is 62,6.

Computers per 100 inhabitants (1999)
Internet users per 100 inhabitants (2000)
Mobile phones per 100 inhabitants (2000)

Bulgaria
2.7
5.2
8.2

Cyprus
16.7
10.6
26.2

Czech Republic
10.7
9.7
29.2

Estonia
13.5
26.3
32

Hungary
7.4
6.4
29.7

Latvia
8.2
6.1
15.6

Lithuania
5.9
6.1
11.4

Malta
18.1
10.6
21.1

Poland
6.2
13.5
15

Romania
2.7
3.1
12.6

Slovakia
7.4
13
21.5

Slovenia
25.3
15.2
57.4

Turkey
3.2
2.9
19.3

EU candidate average
5.2
6.7
17.2

EU average
24.8
24.3
62.6

Translated from Politis