ROME, April 22 (Reuters) – Italy has one of the lowest rates of artificial intelligence use in Europe, data showed on Wednesday, highlighting a broader shortfall in digital skills in the euro zone’s third-largest economy.
Just 19.9% of Italians aged 16 to 74 used artificial intelligence tools last year, compared with a European average of 32.7%, national statistics agency ISTAT said in its first such survey.
Only Romania had a lower score, with 17.8%, it added.
Italy has the oldest population in the European Union, with a median age of 48.7 in 2024 compared with an EU average of 44.7, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat, and it lags many peers on key digital skills indicators.
Nearly 10% of Italy’s population had not used internet in the previous three months, according to a 2025 Eurostat survey. Only Poland, Portugal, Lithuania, Greece, Bulgaria and Croatia recorded higher shares.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones)
