Mr José Manuel Amoedo Meijide (p), Bruno Blanco-Varelab

Ms Elena Ragazzi (p), Prof. Mauro Migliavacca, Dr. Caterina Rizzo, Dr. Lisa Sella (p)

This paper investigates digital inequalities in Liguria, a north-western Italian region that offers a particularly meaningful regional case within the broader European digital transition. Liguria combines high levels of internet connectivity with distinctive structural characteristics: one of the oldest age structures in Europe, pronounced territorial fragmentation between coastal urban centers and small inland municipalities, and persistent socio-economic disparities across provinces. These features make it an especially relevant context for analyzing how digital divides evolve in regions where infrastructure is largely consolidated but social and demographic vulnerabilities remain significant.
The study integrates Eurostat and ISTAT data with original evidence from the RAISE 2025 survey, allowing us to position Liguria within the national and European landscape while examining digital access, skills, and attitudes at the micro level. The analysis focuses primarily on access to the internet and digital tools and on digital competences, while also briefly addressing attitudes toward emerging technologies.
Overall, the Ligurian case highlights a transformation in the nature of digital inequality: the primary divide is no longer infrastructural but competence-based and socially stratified. In a region characterized by high connectivity yet marked demographic ageing and territorial fragmentation, policies aimed at digital inclusion must move beyond broadband expansion and prioritize lifelong learning, targeted interventions for older and economically vulnerable populations, and place-sensitive strategies for peripheral areas. By focusing on a regional context that is both digitally advanced and structurally fragile, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of digital inequalities within contemporary European regions.

Prof. José Manuel Amoedo, Prof Bruno Blanco-Varela, Prof Giorgia Casalone, Prof. Alessandra Michelangeli (p)

The use of digital technologies in European education systems has expanded substantially in recent years, particularly following the widespread adoption of hybrid and online learning models. Nonetheless, a non-negligible share of students continues to face digital vulnerability, understood as the risk of having limited access to adequate digital devices, insufficient internet connectivity, or low levels of digital competence. According to EU-SILC data, around 5.4% of school-aged children (6-16) live in households unable to afford a computer or internet connection (Ayllón et al., 2023). Moreover, results from ICILS 2023 indicate that approximately 43% of 14-year-olds in the EU fail to reach a basic level of digital literacy.
Recognizing the importance of digital competencies for future labor-market participation, the European Commission has set clear goals and actions through its Digital Education Plan (2021-2027) and the Digital Decade 2030 agenda. These initiatives aim to ensure universal access to digital learning, strengthen student digital skills, upskill teachers, and integrate ethical and safe use of technology in education, thereby preparing students for a competitive, digitally driven economy.
Alongside these institutional efforts, a flourishing economic literature has been developed in recent years. Several studies, surveyed in the next section, have focused on the digital divide analysing how family background, school resources, and territorial disparities contribute to unequal digital access and skills acquisition among students. However, despite the growing interest in student digitalization, student digital vulnerability in European countries has not yet been systematically investigated.
This paper seeks to fill this gap by constructing a harmonized measure of student digital vulnerability and applying it to recent cross-country European data. Using microdata from the latest edition of PISA (2022), we first develop a comparable index capturing the two key dimensions of digital vulnerability, i.e. material and skills vulnerability for 9 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Greece, Italy and Sweden). We then investigate the main factors associated with these vulnerabilities, documenting how individual characteristics, family background, and school-level resources contribute to shaping digital disadvantage among students.