The digital divide in Europe: Scandinavians are online, while Bulgarians are still waiting in line

New Eurostat data for 2025 reveal a significant gap in the digitization of public services across the European Union. Despite the overall upward trend in the EU, Bulgaria continues to rank near the bottom, lagging significantly behind the European average.

The Statistics: Bulgaria vs. Europe

In 2025, an average of 71.9% of EU citizens (aged 16 – 74) used websites or apps of public authorities. This represents an increase of nearly 2 percentage points compared to the previous year and over 4 points compared to 2022.

Against this backdrop, the situation in Bulgaria appears alarming. Our country ranks second-to-last in the EU with a mere 36% usage of e-government services. The only country behind us is Romania (24.1%), while the third-to-last country – Italy – is far ahead of us at 57.7%.

By comparison, the top performers in the ranking – Denmark (98%), the Netherlands (96.2%), Finland (96.1%), and Sweden (96%) – have practically achieved near-complete coverage, making online administration the norm for everyday life.

What is e-government (not) used for?

The data shows that at the European level, citizens most often turn to institutional websites for: There is also significant interest in booking appointments online (38.1%) and downloading official forms (36.7%). Europeans use the internet least often for filing complaints and claims (only 5.7%).

• Information: Obtaining information about services, laws, and office hours (44.2%);
• Personal data: Access to personal information (41.3%);
• Taxes: Filing tax returns (38.2%).

Why are we lagging behind?

The low percentage in Bulgaria (36%) signals complex problems – ranging from a lack of sufficiently intuitive and accessible electronic platforms to low levels of digital literacy among a large portion of the population. While in Norway (a non-EU country included in the study) and Denmark, visiting a service counter is the exception, in Bulgaria it remains a widespread practice.

Experts note that although the number of e-services in Bulgaria is growing, the administrative burden and complex identification procedures often deter users.

Although Bulgaria is making slow progress, the pace is insufficient to catch up with the European average in the near future. Eurostat’s data sends a clear signal to Bulgarian institutions regarding the need for more aggressive digitization and a campaign to improve digital literacy, so that e-government can cease to be an “exotic” concept and become a real convenience for citizens.

Translated with DeepL.