Overview
- About 2.1 million people aged 16–74 in Germany had never used the internet in 2025, down from 6% in 2021 and 4% in 2024.
- Non-use was highest among 65–74-year-olds at roughly 10%, compared with 3% for ages 45–64, 2% for 16–24, and 1% for 25–44.
- Eurostat puts the EU average share of offliners at 4% in 2025, with under 1% in Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Luxembourg, and around 10% in Croatia and Portugal.
- The International Telecommunication Union estimates that 26% of the world’s population—about 2.2 billion people—were offline in 2025.
- Destatis notes growing barriers for people without internet access and cautions that survey changes in 2021 created a time‑series break and use an ages‑16–74 definition that differs from the ITU’s.