In 2023, girls aged 16–19 in the EU, including Cyprus, demonstrated higher rates of digital content creation skills compared to the general population, according to data published by Eurostat to mark International Girls in ICT Day (April 24). However, when it comes to computer programming, girls significantly lag behind boys, with Cyprus ranking among the lowest in the EU for both genders.

In the three months prior to the survey, a large majority of girls reported performing basic digital tasks:

• 78.6% of girls in the EU (and 92.9% in Cyprus) moved or copied files across folders, devices, or the cloud

• 73.4% in the EU (and 93.1% in Cyprus) used word processing software

• 67.7% in the EU (and 86.5% in Cyprus) created multimedia documents with text, images, tables, charts, animations, or audio

• 60.8% in the EU (and 68.7% in Cyprus) edited photos, videos, or audio files

Additionally, 47.3% of girls in the EU (and 60.6% in Cyprus) used spreadsheet software, while 22.4% (and 26.8% in Cyprus) used advanced spreadsheet functions to organize, analyze, or modify data. However, only 9.9% of girls in the EU (and a mere 1.7% in Cyprus) wrote code in a programming language.

Across the EU, girls outperformed the general population in every listed digital skill. The difference was especially large in creating multimedia files, with a 28.5 percentage point gap, and lowest in advanced spreadsheet use, with a 1.0 point gap.

In Cyprus, girls scored higher than the general population in all categories but one, with differences ranging from 5 percentage points in advanced spreadsheet use to a remarkable 44.2 percentage points in word processing.

However, in programming, girls in Cyprus had a lower rate (1.7%) than both the general population average (5.1%) and boys of the same age group (6.3%).

Across the EU, girls exceeded boys in four digital activities:

• Editing images, video, or audio

• Using word processing software

• Creating multimedia files

• Moving files between folders, devices, or the cloud

In Cyprus, girls also led in downloading and using software and apps, adjusting settings, and using spreadsheets.

When it comes to coding, 15.1% of all EU youth aged 16–19 reported having this skill, with a clear gender divide: 19.7% of boys versus 9.9% of girls. This gap was recorded in 24 out of 26 EU countries with available data.

The largest gender disparities were observed in:

• Austria (26.5 percentage points)

• Croatia (19.6 points)

• Belgium (18.2 points)

Exceptions were found in Lithuania and Greece, where girls slightly outperformed boys in coding by 3.7 and 2.8 percentage points, respectively.