According to a survey conducted this year on the use of information and communication technology in households, most users use these tools for personal purposes.
According to the results, “the proportion of AI users has almost doubled in the 16-24 age group (76.5%) and students (81.5%).”
The responses also revealed that 89.5% of the resident population (16-74 years old) used the Internet in the three months prior to the interview, primarily to communicate and access information, and 49.6% primarily ordered clothing, footwear, and fashion accessories (75.9%).
The study also revealed that 74.2% had visited public sector websites or applications primarily to view personal information (52.7%) in the 12 months prior to the interview.
According to the source, in 2024, the latest year for which data are available for European Union (EU-27) countries, the proportion of Portuguese people who contacted public authorities was 5.9 percentage points higher than the EU-27 average (70.0%).
The percentage of internet users who encountered offensive, discriminatory, or humiliating content increased from 35.5% in 2023 to 45.2% in 2025.
The most frequently cited causes related to issues related to national, ethnic or racial origin (37.9%), political or social position (37.0%), and sexual identity or orientation (33.2%).
Almost 40% (38.9%) of the population aged 16–74 years used a citizen card or digital mobile key as an authentication method to access online services in the 12 months prior to the interview. This was an increase of 8.5 percentage points compared to 2023.
“In 2025, the main activity carried out by people aged 16 to 74 who used the Internet in the three months before the interview will continue to be the transmission and access of information,” INE underlines, with 93.5% exchanging instant messages (via WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.), 87.9% sending and receiving emails, 85.6% making phone calls or video calls, 85.0% looking up information about products and services, and 80.5% read the news and 78.8% participated in social networks.
Using banking services (72.9%) and listening to music (73.2%) are also activities carried out by more than two-thirds of Internet users. According to the same survey, 59.2% of people have digital skills at a basic level or above, mainly in the 16-24 age group (83.4%) and those who have completed higher education (88.4%).
The proportion of people aged 16 to 74 with at least a basic level of digital skills is highest in Greater Lisbon (69.1%) and Setubal Peninsula (68.9%). While the Algarve (60.6%), Oeste Tagus Valley (60.1%) and Central Region (58.6%) recorded rates close to the national standard of 59.2%, the Autonomous Community of Madeira had the lowest rate, with 48.6% of people having digital skills at or above basic level.
Regarding access to information and communication technologies at home, the data shows that 90.9% of Portuguese households have internet access at home, with fixed technologies being the most commonly used (85.0%).
