Digital Literacy as a Factor of Internet Safety – A Comparative Analysis of Serbia, the Western Balkans and the Eu27 Countries

Digital literacy and Internet safety become increasingly important as the number of active Internet users rapidly rises. One of the elements that represent a precondition for Internet safety is digital literacy; i.e.; the ability to use the Internet in a safe and reliable way. Following EU policies; Serbia is making digital literacy one of the key indicators of national growth and market competitiveness. This paper represents a comparative analysis of the development of digital literacy in Serbia and selected EU and Western Balkan countries. The main goal is to analyse and compare the extent to which these skills differ across the selected countries. The analysis includes four dimensions: access and frequency of Internet use; development of digital skills; purpose of Internet use; and safety risks. These have been examined based on data derived from EUROSTAT; ESS and the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia databases. The analysis shows that Serbia is actively approaching the EU because the gap in digital literacy between the Serbian population and the populations of EU countries is narrowing down. While the citizens of Serbia do not yet have a sufficiently developed awareness of the safety risks; other Western Balkan countries are lagging behind even more in this respect.