BRUSSELS, Nov. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Europe is suffering from a digital divide stemming from differences in education and employment status, according to new figures released Monday by the European Union (EU)'s statistical office.

    While 85 percent of students used the Internet during the first quarter of 2004, only 40 percent of the unemployed and 13 percent of the retired did so, Eurostat said in a report.

    With regard to education, 77 percent of respondents with a tertiary education had used the Internet within this period, compared to 52 percent of those who had completed secondary education and 25 percent with a lower secondary education, it said.

    In the 25 EU member countries, an average of 47 percent of individuals between the ages of 16 and 74 used the Internet during the first quarter of 2004.

    During the past decade, information and communications technologies (ICTs) have become widely available to the general public in both accessibility and cost, the report said.

    However, gaps remain in the use of ICTs among the EU population depending on factors such as age, employment status, educational level and the degree of urbanization of the area where one lives, the study found.

    Missing infrastructure, a lack of incentives to use ICTs and a lack of computer literacy together contribute to the big digital divide, the report suggested.

    The largest gaps between higher and lower educated groups were found in Portugal, Slovenia and Spain, with a gap of 70, 68 and 61 percentage points respectively.

    Gaps were smallest in Lithuania, Sweden and Germany, which recorded a difference of 11, 24 and 25 percentage points respectively.

    In all member states students were the biggest users of the Internet, followed by employees, the report said. Enditem