Digital skills (i25)
- 30/11/2023
- objective
- assessment
In 2021, the share of people aged 16 to 74 with at least basic digital skills was 54.2%. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must be at least 80%. The current time series comprises just one point and it is therefore impossible to assess the evolution of the share of people aged 16 to 74 with at least basic digital skills.
Digital skills: at least basic - Belgium - trend assessment
percentage of population aged 16-74
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2021 | 2025 | 2030 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| observations | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 54.2 | -- | -- |
| objective 2030 | 80.0 | 80.0 | 80.0 | 80.0 | 80.0 | 80.0 | 80.0 | 80.0 |
Statbel (2022), Survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, https://statbel.fgov.be/.
Digital skills: at least basic - Belgium and international comparison
percentage of population aged 16-74
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 54.2 |
| EU27 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 53.9 |
| Belgium, old definition | 60.3 | 60.9 | 60.6 | -- | 60.8 | -- | -- |
| EU27, old definition | 53.7 | 54.3 | 55.3 | -- | 56.1 | -- | -- |
Statbel (2022), Survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, https://statbel.fgov.be/ ; Eurostat (2023), Individuals' level of digital skills (from 2021 onwards) [online data code: isoc_sk_dskl_i21], https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 27/09/2023) et Eurostat (2023), Individuals' level of digital skills (until 2019) [online data code: isoc_sk_dskl_i], https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 27/09/2023).
Digital skills: at least basic, by region - Belgium
percentage of population aged 16-74
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brussels-Capital Region | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 61.7 |
| Flemish Region | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 54.5 |
| Walloon Region | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 51.3 |
| Brussels-Capital Region, old definition | 63.6 | 64.9 | 61.0 | -- | 61.2 | -- | -- |
| Flemish Region, old definition | 62.6 | 63.7 | 64.7 | -- | 62.6 | -- | -- |
| Walloon Region, old definition | 55.1 | 54.5 | 52.9 | -- | 57.6 | -- | -- |
Statbel (2022), Survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, https://statbel.fgov.be/.
Digital skills: at least basic, by sex - Belgium
percentage of population aged 16-74
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| females | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 51.6 |
| males | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 56.9 |
| females, old definition | 58.3 | 57.7 | 59.2 | -- | 58.3 | -- | -- |
| males, old definition | 62.3 | 64.1 | 61.9 | -- | 63.4 | -- | -- |
Statbel (2022), Survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, https://statbel.fgov.be/.
Digital skills: at least basic, by age - Belgium
percentage of age group
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16-24 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 67.1 |
| 25-34 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 74.2 |
| 35-44 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 63.2 |
| 45-54 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 51.7 |
| 55-64 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 38.1 |
| 65-74 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 28.9 |
| 16-24, old definition | 82.0 | 78.6 | 78.8 | -- | 79.3 | -- | -- |
| 25-34, old definition | 76.9 | 78.1 | 77.5 | -- | 73.0 | -- | -- |
| 35-44, old definition | 68.0 | 72.3 | 69.3 | -- | 70.2 | -- | -- |
| 45-54, old definition | 56.5 | 56.3 | 57.9 | -- | 61.4 | -- | -- |
| 55-64, old definition | 44.4 | 43.9 | 45.8 | -- | 45.2 | -- | -- |
| 65-74, old definition | 28.2 | 31.7 | 29.9 | -- | 33.9 | -- | -- |
Statbel (2022), Survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, https://statbel.fgov.be/.
Digital skills: at least basic, by education - Belgium
percentage of population aged 16-74
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| at most lower secondary | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 26.3 |
| upper secondary | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 49.0 |
| tertiary | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 77.5 |
| at most lower secondary, old definition | 34.4 | 36.1 | 34.3 | -- | 35.0 | -- | -- |
| upper secondary, old definition | 60.9 | 59.1 | 59.5 | -- | 58.0 | -- | -- |
| tertiary, old definition | 85.7 | 87.4 | 86.5 | -- | 85.5 | -- | -- |
Statbel (2022), Survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, https://statbel.fgov.be/.
Digital skills: at least basic, by income - Belgium
percentage of population aged 16-74
| 2021 | |
|---|---|
| quintile 1 | 31.9 |
| quintile 2 | 42.2 |
| quintile 3 | 51.2 |
| quintile 4 | 66.1 |
| quintile 5 | 78.5 |
Statbel (2022), Survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, https://statbel.fgov.be/.
Definition: share of people aged 16 to 74 with at least basic digital skills. The overall level of digital skills is a composite indicator. It is considered "basic" if the citizen’s skills in (i) information and data understanding, (ii) communication and collaboration, (iii) digital content creation, (iv) security, and (v) problem solving have all been assessed as at least “basic”. If all these skills are assessed as "high", the overall level of digital skills is "advanced".
The data comes from the survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals. Statbel Belgium organises this EU-harmonised survey in Belgium and makes the results available, in particular to Eurostat. The data used here for Belgium comes directly from Statbel and the data used for comparison with the rest of the EU comes from Eurostat. As the data is based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty must be considered. The confidence intervals for the data are available on request from Statbel.
Since the survey methodology was reviewed in 2021, data from the 2015-2019 period cannot be compared with the new time series starting in 2021.
Goal: the share of people aged 16 to 74 with at least basic digital skills should reach 80% by 2030.
The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 4.4: "By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship".
According to the target set by the Action Programme for the EU's Digital Decade, at least 80% of the people aged 16 to 74 should have at least basic digital skills by 2030 (European Commission, 2023a).
In relation to this target, the European Skills Agenda sets an intermediate target of at least 70% of adults aged 16 to 74 having at least basic digital skills by 2025 (European Commission, 2023b).
International comparison: the share of people aged 16 to 74 with at least basic digital skills is higher in Belgium than in the EU27 throughout the period under review. However, the gap between the EU27 and Belgium was smaller in 2021, when the new methodology was adopted, than over the 2015-2019 period. In 2021, the share of the EU27 population aged 16 to 74 with at least basic digital skills reached 53.9%, just 0.3 percentage points lower than in Belgium.
Furthermore, the improvement in digital skills observed in Belgium between 2015 and 2019 is also seen in the EU27. Over this period, the share of people aged 16 to 74 with at least basic digital skills increased from 53.7% to 56.1% in the EU27.
When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with average performance and outperforms the European average in 2021. That year, Finland was in first place with 79.18% and Romania last with 27.82%.
UN indicator: the indicator chosen corresponds to indicator 4.4.1 - Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill.
Sources
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General
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SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.
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Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.
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UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).
- UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).
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Specific
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European Commission (2023a), Europe’s Digital Decade: digital targets for 2030, https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/europes-digital-decade-digital-targets-2030_en (geraadpleegd op 27/09/2023)
- European Commission (2023b), Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1223&langId=en (geraadpleegd op 27/09/2023)
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Federal Planning Bureau
At www.indicators.be the Federal Planning Bureau presents sustainable development indicators.
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