According to a survey conducted in 2022, 47 percent of students in higher education agreed that the quality of online instruction in higher education is the same as the quality of in-person instruction in the United States, while 43 percent said that the quality was worse.

In 2024, about nine percent of all students who chose online degree programs in the United States said they did so because COVID-19 made it the only option available to them, a slight decrease from 11 percent in the previous year. In both 2023 and 2024, however, the most commonly cited reason for students to choose online degree programs was due to existing commitments, such as work and family, preventing their attendance in campus-based courses.

In 2022, 26.4 percent of higher education students in the United States were taking exclusively distance learning courses. A further 27.8 percent of students were taking at least some distance learning courses. For both of these groups, this is a decrease from the previous year, demonstrating the declining impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of the third quarter of 2024, South Africa and Philippines saw the highest reach of online learning videos worldwide, with approximately 58 percent of internet users reporting they watched how-to videos, tutorials, and educational videos online weekly. Internet users located in Turkey followed, with around 57.8 percent of respondents stating that they watched learning videos.

According to a 2023 survey, 70 percent of undergraduate students who were studying online in the United States were White while 23 percent were Black or African-American. In comparison, 69 percent of graduate students studying online in the United States in that year were White while 24 percent were Black or African American.

In 2020, 58 percent of internet users in the United Kingdom (UK) aged between 16 and 24 used the internet to take part in online learning activities. Among 25-to-34-year-olds this share decreased to 36 percent. Among the other age groups, 55-to-64-years-olds were least likely do take part in online learning activities. Overall, the share of people using the internet for this purpose increased since 2015. The European questionnaire on Information and Communication Technologies Data reveals a disparity between the internet usage among different age groups. This disparity, although present in most countries, differs widely in its severity.

During a survey conducted in Spring 2023 in the United States, the most popular factor for choosing online education was the affordability of the program, with 77 percent of respondents reporting this was one of their top three reasons. The second most popular factor was the reputation of the school or program.

According to a survey conducted in 2023, 65 percent of students who were studying online in the United States were female, compared to 31 percent who were male.

The majority of Romanian parents stated that the most significant limitation of online learning during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was the lack of interaction with children of the same age, according to a survey from January 2021. Furthermore, nearly six in ten did not like the fact that children spent too much time in front of screens. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The share of internet users engaging in online learning activities in Finland increased significantly by 12.5 percentage points in 2022. With 53.4 percent, the share of engagement in online learning activities thereby reached its highest value in the observed period. Notably, the share of engagement in online learning activities continuously increased over the last years.The EU survey on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in households and by individuals is an annual survey conducted since 2002 aiming at collecting and disseminating harmonised and comparable information on the use of ICT in households and by individuals. Data presented in this domain are collected on a yearly basis by the National Statistical Institutes and are based on Eurostat's annual model questionnaire. This questionnaire is updated each year to reflect the evolving situation of information and communication technologiesFind more statistics on other topics about Finland with key insights such as share of daily internet users, share of internet users seeking health information online, share of internet users informing themselves about goods and services online, share of internet users looking for and applying for jobs online, share of internet users reading news online, and share of people that upload self-created content.

In 2024, Southern New Hampshire University was ranked as the best distance learning institution in the United States, with 96 percent of its students enrolled online. University of Florida, Florida International University, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and University of Utah rounded out the top five.

Parent's responses to a survey investigating the main challenges children faced with remote education during the Coronavirus pandemic in the UK showed that 40 percent believed that their child's lack of focus on studying was an issue. Only 2 percent of parents believed that no internet connection was a challenge when learning remotely from home.

According to a survey in 2021, 30 percent of Filipino respondents perceive the current distance learning model was around 20 to 50 percent effective. On the other hand, 14 percent of respondents stated that such learning model is 80 to 100 percent effective. Distance learning had been implemented in the Philippines as a precaution towards the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to a survey conducted in 2023, 71 percent of college students in the United States said that they preferred lab or interactive work to be conducted in person while 29 percent preferred online. Taking exams and researching were the only activities that college students were more likely to say that they preferred online rather than in person in that year.

The share of internet users engaging in online learning activities in Latvia increased by 5.5 percentage points since the previous year. Therefore, the share of engagement in online learning activities in Latvia reached a peak in 2022 with 27.78 percent.The EU survey on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in households and by individuals is an annual survey conducted since 2002 aiming at collecting and disseminating harmonised and comparable information on the use of ICT in households and by individuals. Data presented in this domain are collected on a yearly basis by the National Statistical Institutes and are based on Eurostat's annual model questionnaire. This questionnaire is updated each year to reflect the evolving situation of information and communication technologiesFind more statistics on other topics about Latvia with key insights such as share of daily internet users, share of internet users informing themselves about goods and services online, and share of people that upload self-created content.

In Central and Eastern Europe, Estonia had the highest share of people who did online courses or used online learning materials in 2023. Meanwhile, in Romania the lowest share took online courses, at 9.2 percent.

According to a survey conducted among headteachers at schools in England, approximately 83 percent of primary schools, and 94 percent of secondary schools provided, or planned to provide work for pupils via online learning platforms. Although live online lessons were the second most common way for schools to deliver education remotely, they were not as widely used in primary schools, with emailing, phoning or messaging being the second-most common type of provision.

In 2023, 62 percent of users with low formal education in Finland used the internet to participate in online learning activities, an increase of nine percent since 2022. Among people with medium formal education, the share amounted to 47 percent. 59 percent of users in Finland with a high degree of formal education had used the internet to access online learning content. The European questionnaire on Information and Communication Technologies Data reveals that there exists a disparity between the internet usage of people with a low, medium, and high formal education level. This disparity, although present in most countries, differs widely in its severity.

Most of the respondents used Google classroom as the main platform for online learning platform during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Romania. However, for various reasons, nearly 40 percent were not able to use any educational platform to keep up with online schooling.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In 2022, the share of internet users engaging in online learning activities in Italy increased by 5.4 percentage points since 2020. With 30.76 percent, the share of engagement in online learning activities thereby reached its highest value in the observed period. Notably, the share of engagement in online learning activities continuously increased over the last years.The EU survey on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in households and by individuals is an annual survey conducted since 2002 aiming at collecting and disseminating harmonised and comparable information on the use of ICT in households and by individuals. Data presented in this domain are collected on a yearly basis by the National Statistical Institutes and are based on Eurostat's annual model questionnaire. This questionnaire is updated each year to reflect the evolving situation of information and communication technologiesFind more statistics on other topics about Italy with key insights such as share of daily internet users, share of internet users seeking health information online, share of internet users informing themselves about goods and services online, share of internet users looking for and applying for jobs online, and share of people that upload self-created content.