Bulgarian Teens Rank Second in Internet Use in Europe

Bulgaria and Sweden share the first place in Internet popularity among teenagers in Europe. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria ranks second in Europe in Internet popularity among teenagers, an EU survey shows.

The poll was conducted by the London School of Economics and the European Union among 23,000 teenagers of 25 European coutnries.

According to the results, Bulgaria and Sweden share the first place, having 83% of children aged 9-16 who use Internet almost every day. Turkey ranks last with only 31% of teenagers who use Internet daily.

The data showed that 51% of the Bulgarian respondents are registered in a social network. This is below the EU average, which is 57%, and one of the lowest results in Europe. Bulgaria is also among the countries where teenagers have the least number of friends in the social networks.

Only 5% of the Bulgarian youngsters have become victims on the Internet. They have had a computer virus, or have communicated with suspicious or disturbing people, or have encountered shocking information, pictures or videos.

However, only 36% of the Bulgarian kids consider the Internet a source of risks and problems. Respondents from other countries are much more cautious about it. About 90% of teenagers from Denmark and Spain have responded that they realize the potential threats that could be encountered online.

The report has also revealed that one of five Bulgarian teens has encountered pictures or videos with sexual content, but this was upsetting to only 1/5 of them.

In comparison, one of every 10 children has encountered similar content and more than half of them have felt negative emotions.

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