engleski

Cluster analysis of Internet usage in European countries

Internet provides a new communication medium and is becoming very influential for many people regardless of age, gender or education. This paper reviews and discusses Internet issues and reports the findings of a cluster analysis. Indicators such as: age, gender, education, Internet usage, on-line shopping and e-government are used to measure the differences between European countries. Data from Eurostat were used for this paper. There were data for 31 European countries which were divided into four clusters. Considering different characteristics of Internet users and different forms of Internet usage the most developed countries are placed in the first cluster. The second cluster consists of developed western-European countries, and the third consists of the southern European countries. The final group consists of the eastern European and candidate countries to the European Union. Conclusion is that there is still a significant difference between European countries according usage of Internet.

internet usage; gender; age; education; shop on-line; e-government; European countries; cluster analysis

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