Social Media Participation: Youth (16-29) vs. General Population (2025)

In 2025, active participation in social networking (i.e., participation in social networks: creating user profiles, posting messages or other contributions to Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is the dominant digital activity for European youth, with nearly 89% of the EU-27 youth population maintaining profiles and posting content compared to just 67% of the general population. The data highlights a profound gap across the continent, most notably in Croatia (+29pp), Austria (+28pp), and Poland (+27pp), where young people are exponentially more involved in social media than older generations. Even in major economies where general social media participation is relatively low, such as Germany (59%) and Italy (56%), the youth demographic remains highly active at 84% and 80%, respectively.