Noteworthy in 2021

Greece’s internet penetration may be lower than in most of Western Europe, but its online population is keeping up with major digital trends.

• Compared with regional norms, Greece’s digital transformation has been relatively slow—due at least partly to its challenging geography, with many mountainous areas and multiple islands. But infrastructure and services have massively improved in recent years. GWI surveyed internet users ages 16 to 64 in the country for the first time in H1 2021, and many indicators of digital maturity now align with those in Western Europe.
• For example, 96.8% of those polled owned a smartphone, and 81.3% owned a desktop or laptop. Almost half (48.6%) owned a tablet. Fewer than 10% had a feature phone, though penetration was above 10% among males, respondents ages 45 to 64, and those in low- or medium-income households.
• All cohorts were deeply engaged with social media. Overall, nearly 98% of internet users said they had accessed at least one of 37 named social networks and one or more of 20 named messaging platforms in the prior month. Nearly one-third (32.4%) used between five and six of these services.
• Digital video viewing was almost as widespread in H1 2021, with 94.9% of respondents streaming some type of video content in the prior month. More than two-thirds (68.7%) of internet users had accessed subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services, like Netflix, as of Q1 2021, including over 91% of 16- to 24-year-olds. Penetration was about 10 percentage points above average (79.1%) in the 25-to-34 age bracket. However, the oldest respondents, ages 55 to 64, were not yet on board to the same extent, with barely half (51.4%) viewing SVOD.