Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact : ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 17 on revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development and SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure; which are embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under the 'European Green Deal', 'A Europe fit for a digital age', 'An economy that works for people' and 'A stronger Europe in the world'.

SDG 17 calls for a global partnership for sustainable development. It highlights the importance of macroeconomic stability and of mobilising financial resources for developing countries. It also stresses the importance of trade and equitable rules for governing it. The goal also emphasises the importance of access to science and technology, in particular internet-based information and communications technology. 

Making Europe fit for the digital age is consequently one of the six Commission priorities for 2019–2024. The aim is to make the digital transformation work for people and businesses while helping to achieve the target of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. SDG 17 recognises the importance of access to science, technology and innovation for sustainable development. The number of broadband internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants is one of the indicators used by the UN to measure progress towards the related target. In its 2020 Digital Strategy, the European Commission emphasised the EU’s commitment towards developing a Global Digital Cooperation Strategy, which will reflect the SDGs.

In its 2016 Communication ‘Connectivity for a Competitive Digital Single Market — Towards a European Gigabit Society’, the European Commission set out a vision for a European gigabit society, operationalised through three objectives for 2025. The EU aims to have gigabit connectivity for places driving socio-economic developments, 5G coverage for all urban areas and all major terrestrial transport paths, and access for all European households to internet connectivity offering at least 100 Mbps. The Farm to Fork strategy reaffirmed this objective by calling for an acceleration of the roll-out of fast broadband internet in rural areas to achieve the objective of 100 % access by 2025.

In 2021 March, the Commission — in its 2030 Digital Compass — presented a vision and avenues for Europe’s digital transformation by 2030, focusing on four main areas: (1) skills, (2) secure and sustainable digital infrastructures, (3) digital transformation of businesses, and (4) digitalisation of public services. Building on the 2016 Communication, the Digital Compass defines the objective that by 2030 all European households should be covered by a gigabit network, with all populated areas covered by 5G.

The indicator measures the share of households with fixed very high capacity network (VHCN) connection. Very high capacity network means either an electronic communications network that consists entirely of optical fibre elements at least up to the distribution point at the serving location, or an electronic communications network capable of delivering, under usual peak-time conditions, similar network performance in terms of available downlink and uplink bandwidth, resilience, error-related parameters, and latency and its variation. Data until 2018 refer to fibre to the premises (FTTP) only, while data from 2019 onwards refer to both FTTP and Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.1. DOCSIS allows adding high-bandwidth data transfer to existing cable television systems.

'Low settled areas' are defined as those with less than 100 people per km2.

% of households

Calendar year

The indicator is produced according to high-level quality standards. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source dataset.

'Broadband coverage in Europe studies' - DG CNECT 

Data sources:  IHS Markit, Omdia, Point Topic and VVA, Broadband coverage in Europe studies 
Data provider:  European Commission (EC) - Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) and Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Every year

The indicator is updated annually.

T+2 years

New data points are disseminated within two years after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries.

5 to 10 years

Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2013.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

See table sdg_17_60.

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

Copyrights: Eurostat Copyright/Licence Policy is applicable.