Greece still fights shy of Internet
More Greeks than ever own computers – almost one in three households – but Internet usage in Greece remains low, with only one in five people going online, according to figures released by the National Statistics Service (NSS) yesterday. Nearly 5,000 people were questioned as part of the survey, which was carried out during the first quarter of this year. The results indicate that almost all Greeks use the Internet to search for information, goods and services, while 80 percent use it to communicate with others through email or chat rooms. Half that number uses it to visit public service web pages. However, only one in 10 Greeks uses Internet banking and even fewer (6 percent) buy goods via the web. According to the survey, virtually half of those questioned said they did not surf the Net because they found it difficult to use, were wary of harmful content and were put off by the high cost needed in order to go online. The same research found that three-quarters of Greek households had a mobile phone and 5 percent owned satellite television.
