A survey conducted by Eurostat revealed that in 2019 only 14% of Czechs claimed to have avoided providing personal information to social or professional network services due to security concerns. The study surveyed EU citizens aged between 16 and 74 and found that Europe-wide the figure was one in four. Photo credit: Freepik / For illustrative purposes.
Czech Rep., Oct. 15 (BD) – According to the latest data published by Eurostat on October 13th, one in four European citizens aged between 16 and 74 have consciously avoided sharing their personal details on social media over the last year.
Czech Republic ranks 17th among EU member states, and below the EU average, as only 14% of Czechs reported changing their practices when it came to sharing their personal details over safety concerns.
In neighbouring countries, only Polish citizens had a more relaxed attitude to the potential security threats of sharing personal information, while Germany, Austria and Slovakia all score higher than the European average.
However, Czechs are now considerably more conscious of the potential danger than in 2015, when only 7% limited their online actions on this account. In 2010 the percentage was even lower – 2%. The tendency seems to point to a rising awareness on issues regarding data protection and online safety.
According to the survey, France, the Netherlands, Finland, Slovakia and Sweden are the leading countries when it comes to their citizens’ concern over privacy – 36 to 40% of those interviewed admitted to changing their online behaviour based on this.
Ranking lowest of the 27 EU countries are Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia and Romania, where only 6 to 9% have altered their online habits due to privacy concerns.
