The proportion of Italian adults regularly accessing the internet has surged to 75 percent of the population during the Covid-19 health emergency, according to a new report on Italy’s digital transformation from research institute Censis and the TIM Study Centre. Although the country was still lagging behind most European countries in the pre-Covid digital performance rankings, the report reveals that things are beginning to change thanks to a greater awareness of the opportunities offered by digital tools since the start of the pandemic. In a statement, TIM said the greater level of digitisation of Italians and greater use of digital services during the lockdown could serve to improve Italy’s current ranking of 25th in the Digital Economy and Society Index 2020 - DESI (June 2019) by up to six places.

The report estimated that almost 43 million people over the age of 18 (including at least 3 million new users) have stayed in touch with friends and relatives using online video calling systems, with the majority of Italians (61%) stating that they will continue to use the technology in the near future. The study also found that 8.7 million Italians used the digital services of government bodies for the first time this year, while 83.5 percent of respondents said they prefer services which are provided to citizens both online and physically.