The education-related digital divide: An analysis for the EU-28

This paper addresses the international and internal digital divides that exist across and within the European member states according to the educational attainment of their populations. Our results suggest that even for those European countries that are outperforming their counterparts in terms of digital development, such as Finland, some internal gaps still remain and need to be addressed. In other countries, as in the cases of Malta, Spain, and Portugal, the divides are a matter for concern. These findings would probably be overlooked if we worked only with aggregate levels, as is usual. Consequently, this paper draws attention to the importance of complementing cross-country analysis of the digital divide with an assessment of internal gaps. We addressed the relationship between education and digital divide among the EU-28.Using three educational levels allow to assess international and internal divides.Two dimensions in the European digital divide were found.Even the most digital developed countries have present internal divides.Using only aggregate levels would probably cause losing some important insights.

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