Abstract:

Digital skills, including internet use, have become increasingly required nowadays, being almost indispensable for many individuals, especially the young ones. But, the existing disparities concerning these types of skills among socio-demographic categories emphasized the importance of the digital divide concept in relation to education, career choices, and success in accessing labour market opportunities. In developed countries, this concept is increasingly discussed in the scientific literature, but relatively scarce in less developed or developing countries, including Romania. In this context, this paper aims to bring a deeper understanding of the digital divide by analyzing the internet use among youth in Romania. In order to reach this objective, the authors analyze data from Eurostat from the last decade for both Romania and the EU-27 average. The findings reveal the existing differences between genders, age, and education levels, contributing to a better understanding of this concept. The results could inform educational policies regarding young people's skills development.

Acknowledgement:
This work has been supported by the NUCLEU program, funded by Ministry of Education and Research, under the project PN 19130302

Keywords:

Digital divide, internet use, youth, education.