More than half of young people in the EU said they had come across hostile or degrading messages online in the past three months.
Online exposure to hostile content was most common among younger internet users and fell steadily with age, Eurostat informed on Thursday.
It reported that 54.0% of people aged 25 to 34 had encountered such messages, as had 53.7% of those aged 16 to 24.
The share dropped to 46.4% among 35 to 44-year-olds and continued to decline in older age groups — 38.9% for 45 to 54-year-olds, 32.8% for 55 to 64-year-olds, and 28.1% for people aged 65 to 74.
Young women reported higher exposure than young men
Among 16 to 24-year-old internet users, 57.2% of young women said they had seen hostile or degrading online messages, compared with 50.4% of young men, the statistics agency said.
For both young men and young women, the most commonly reported hostile messages were linked to political or social views and to racial or ethnic origin.
Some 42.5% of young women and 39.3% of young men said they had encountered hostile messages related to political or social views, while 38.2% of young women and 35.6% of young men reported messages linked to racial or ethnic origin.
The largest gender gaps were recorded for messages about sexual orientation, sex and disability.
Hostile or degrading messages related to sexual orientation were reported by 37.8% of young women and 32.6% of young men, while messages linked to sex were reported by 30.9% and 24.9% respectively, and messages linked to disability by 23.0% and 19.3%.
