Generative AI in numbers 2026: 1 in 3 Europeans already use it, and young people nearly double the average
32.66% of people in the European Union used generative AI tools in 2025, rising to 63.81% among 16- to 24-year-olds. We analyze Eurostat data by age, purpose and country, and why most people still don't use it.
By Paulina · SEO and digital strategy specialist
· 4 min read
32.66% of people aged 16 to 74 in the European Union used generative AI tools in the last three months, according to the first official measurement by Eurostat, with 2025 data. Among young people aged 16 to 24 the figure reaches 63.81%, almost double the average.
Generative AI creates new content (text, images, code or audio) from a prompt, as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude do. In this study we look at who uses it, for what, in which countries and why most people still don't.
32.66%
People using generative AI
aged 16 to 74, European Union, 2025
63.81%
Young people aged 16 to 24
almost double the average
15.36%
Use it for work
of the whole population
64.25%
Don't use it because they don't need it
of non-users
Source: Eurostat, isoc_ai_iaiu and isoc_ai_iaiuxr (2025)
View the data as a table
| People using generative AI | 32.66% | aged 16 to 74, European Union, 2025 |
| Young people aged 16 to 24 | 63.81% | almost double the average |
| Use it for work | 15.36% | of the whole population |
| Don't use it because they don't need it | 64.25% | of non-users |
Methodology
The data comes from the European survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals, which measured the use of generative AI tools for the first time in 2025. It covers people aged 16 to 74 in the 27 EU countries and other European countries. The question refers to the last three months. Comparisons and differences were calculated by InfoByData from the published data.
Finding 1: age is the biggest divide
Use falls as age rises: from 63.81% among 16- to 24-year-olds to 6.5% among 65- to 74-year-olds.
Finding 2: it's used more in personal life than at work
25.49% of people used it for private purposes, 15.36% for work and 9.32% for education. Work use peaks between ages 25 and 34, when people enter the job market:
- Private use
- Work use
Source: Eurostat, 2025
View the data as a table
| Private use | Work use | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 to 24 | 45.05% | 16.28% |
| 25 to 34 | 42.39% | 27.44% |
| 35 to 44 | 31.48% | 22.07% |
| 45 to 54 | 21.65% | 16.38% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.72% | 8.75% |
| 65 to 74 | 5.68% | 1.5% |
The gap between people and companies is wide. Only 19.95% of European companies used AI in 2025, as we saw in our study on AI in business: many workers already use these tools even though their company hasn't formally adopted them.
Finding 3: northern Europe leads, the south and east move more slowly
Denmark leads the European Union with 48.44%, while Romania (17.76%) and Italy (19.86%) come last. Spain (37.88%) and Portugal (38.7%) are above the EU average.
Outside the EU, Norway reaches 56.32%, the highest figure among the countries measured.
Finding 4: most people don't use it because they don't feel they need it
Among people who didn't use generative AI, 64.25% said they didn't need it. Knowledge barriers weigh less but still matter: 13.77% didn't know how to use it and 8.47% didn't know it existed.
People could give more than one reason, so the percentages don't add up to 100.
What changes for businesses and websites
- In search: when Google answers with an AI summary, clicks on traditional results drop from 15% to 8% of visits, according to Pew Research Center. We explain it in our article on AI Overviews.
- On websites: more and more sites decide which AI bots can read their content. Mentions of GPTBot in robots.txt files rose from 2.7% to 4.2% of mobile sites between 2024 and 2025, as we show in technical SEO in numbers.
- In decision making: 88% of organizations surveyed by Stanford's AI Index already use AI, but integrating it well requires organized data, as we analyze in our 2026 data-driven study.
Limitations of the study
- There is no equivalent measurement for Chile or Latin America. Eurostat covers Europe; the figures are a reference, not local data.
- This is the first measurement. Eurostat only added the question in 2025, so there is no historical series yet to measure growth.
- It measures use, not intensity. Someone who used a tool once in three months counts the same as someone who uses it every day.
What it means for you
- Your younger customers already use it: almost two in three people aged 16 to 24 use generative AI. If your audience is young, they're likely searching and comparing with these tools.
- Work use is ahead of companies: many workers already use it even if their company hasn't adopted it. Clear usage rules reduce privacy risks and make the most of what your team already knows.
- The barrier is perceived usefulness: most people don't use it because they don't think they need it. Showing concrete use cases in your industry is the most direct way to close that gap.
Sources
- Eurostat: "Individuals - use of generative AI tools" (isoc_ai_iaiu), 2025 data
- Eurostat: "Individuals - reasons for not using generative AI tools" (isoc_ai_iaiuxr), 2025 data
- Eurostat: "Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises" (2025 data)
- Stanford HAI: AI Index 2026, economy chapter
- Pew Research Center: Google users and AI summaries (2025)
- HTTP Archive: Web Almanac 2025, SEO chapter
- generative AI
- artificial intelligence
- ChatGPT
- AI adoption
- Eurostat