Research teams from 34 countries participate in the EU Kids Online network. The EU Kids Online 2020 report includes new findings from 19 of these countries

Country names in national languages

België,  България, Κύπρος, Česko,  Danmark, 
Deutschland,  Eesti,  Ελλάδα,  España,  France,  Hrvatska, Ireland, 
Island, Italia, Latvija, Lëtzebuerg, Lietuva,  Magyarország,  Malta, 
Nederland,  Norge,  Österreich, Polska, Portugal,  România, 
Россия,  Schweiz, Slovenija,  Slovensko, Srbija, Suomi,  Sverige,  Türkiye,  UK.

In English

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, 
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, 
Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, 
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK.

Affiliated

Country projects: Australia and Brazil.

Regional project: Kids Online Latin America (English, Spanish, Portuguese).

Linked projects: Net Children Go Mobile, Global Kids Online, Toddlers and Tablets

EU Kids Online is a multinational research network that seeks to enhance knowledge of European children's online opportunities, risks and safety. The network employs multiple methods to map children's and parents' experiences of the internet and seeks to build a comprehensive evidence base to inform national, European and international policies to advance children’s rights in relation to the digital environment.

We take a children’s rights perspective, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and General comment No. 25 on Children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. This means taking a holistic approach to children’s digital that values and seeks to enhance child participation, protection, privacy, provision, dignity and voice.

The network is widely recognised for contribution to the European ‘Better Internet for Kids’ ecosystem. This contribution relies on the network’s expertise and independent voice, its cross-nationally comparative insights, and its capacity for high quality evidence generation with and for children and young people.

Download the principles

 Our European researchers endorse the following principles in all our work:

1. High quality science: We conduct scientific research using rigorous and transparent methodologies appropriate to the research task, including to enable cross-country comparisons.
2. Ethical: We follow the highest standard of ethical principles and practices in research with children and young people.
3. Balanced analysis: We seek to be informed and balanced in our approach, and to critique overly optimistic, alarmist, moralistic or reductive accounts of technology’s impacts on children.
4. Evidence based policy: We actively seek to expand and deepen academic, policymaker and public understanding of children’s digital lives by promoting relevant and high-quality research, also noting research weaknesses and gaps as appropriate.
5. Open: We disseminate our findings fairly and honestly, using open-access and/or peer-reviewed outlets wherever possible.
6. Independence and transparency: We engage with multiple stakeholders, including government, policymakers, industry and civil society, sustaining an independent approach and avoiding conflicts of interest.
7. Integrity: We conduct all our research and collaborations with integrity, and to be transparent about our sources of funding.

Building on nearly two decades of expertise, EU Kids Online is launching a new wave of research—EU Kids Online 5. This latest phase continues the network’s commitment to providing high-quality, comparative evidence on children’s online experiences, risks, and opportunities across Europe and beyond.

As part of its ongoing mission, the network will update its public database, ensuring access to the latest evidence for researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders. In addition, members will collaborate on thematic studies exploring pressing issues such as AI and childhood, parental mediation strategies, and digital inequalities.

In 2025 The EU Kids Online network, now spanning 33 countries, will conduct a new representative survey to capture the rapidly evolving digital landscape. A key addition to this wave is the inclusion of emerging themes such as generative AI, alongside established topics like online safety, digital skills, and wellbeing. This expansion reflects the growing importance of understanding how children interact with novel technologies and how these shape their daily lives.

EU Kids Online will also conduct several thematic studies. Our first study is a qualitative comparative study exploring children’s experiences with generative artificial intelligence - RIGHTS.AI conducted in collaboration with the Digital Futures for Children centre (DFC). This research focuses on understanding how children aged 13-17 interact with generative AI tools, such as chatbots and image generators, and examines the implications for their rights, privacy, safety, creativity, and expression. The study encompasses diverse contexts, including countries like Kenya, Brazil, India, as well as 16 European nations within the EU Kids Online network. By capturing children's perspectives, the project aims to inform policies and practices that uphold children's rights in the evolving digital landscape.

Other anticipated studies include a qualitative comparative study on children's democratic engagement and rights, a study examining parents' experiences and perceptions of their children's digital lives, and research on the digital experiences of children with disabilities.

To find out more see news and publications.

This ‘thematic network’ has 33 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus. the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK, as well as affiliates in Australia, Brazil and Chile. 

Given the accumulated expertise of the network and its eminent role as an actor providing solid empirical evidence for multi-stakeholder processes on the European as well as on the national level, the network decided to continue the network activities and to conduct a second representive survey on children and online risks and opportunies to expand the evidence on international level. For this, the network (Livingstone, Mascheroni and Staksrud 2015) has elaborated a revised version of the theoretical framework for research on children’s online experiences. The network also continues to update the EU Kids Online public database, documenting and coding recent and updated evidence about children’s use of new media across Europe. Furthermore, EU Kids Online members initiate new collaborative cross-national projects on special topics (e.g. young children and online use, cyberbullying etc.). Findings are published in EU Kids Online short reports and disseminated within national, European and international research forums and among national, European and international stakeholders. Thematic reports cover experiences with sexual content, mobile opportunities, a qualitative study of young children (0-8) and digital technology, how parents of very young children manage digital devices, internet safety helplines and parental controls.

See here for further information.

This ‘thematic network’ consisted of 33 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus. the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK, as well as affiliates in Australia and Brazil. 

The network updated and extended the European Evidence Database, including a summary in English of key findings and an update on research patterns and gaps. It also updated the methodological Frequently Asked Questions and reported on innovative methods for research with children. Thematic reports addressed disadvantaged families, a comparative analysis of internet safety policy implementation, preventive measures, the internet use of young children, excessive internet use, country classification, coping and resilience, evidence for industry and regulation, children’s own accounts of risk, national perspectives, internet use on smartphones, children's changing online experiences in a longitudinal perspective, comparative findings from EU Kids Online and Net Children Go Mobile and a summary of findings, methods and recommendations. The final empirical project was a cross-national qualitative study of the meaning of problematic situations for children.

See here for further information.

This ‘knowledge enhancement’ project included 25 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the UK.

The main focus was a survey of children and parents to produce original, rigorous data on their internet use, risk experiences and safety mediation. This aimed to (i) produce new, relevant, robust and comparable findings regarding the incidence of online risk among European children; (ii) pinpoint which children are particularly at risk and why, by examining vulnerability factors (at both individual and country levels); and (iii) examine the operation and effectiveness of parental regulation and awareness strategies, and children's own coping responses to risk, including their media literacy.

A random stratified sample of 25,142 children aged 9-16 who use the internet, plus one of their parents, was interviewed during Spring/Summer 2010 in 25 European countries. The survey investigated key online risks: pornography, bullying, receiving sexual messages, contact with people not known face-to-face, offline meetings with online contacts, potentially harmful user-generated content and personal data misuse. In addition to a report of the full findings, the network produced a series of thematic reports on parenting, bullying, patterns of risk and safety, disadvantaged children, risky opportunities, social networking and digital skills. Country comparisons and policy recommendationscompleted the analysis, all encapsulated in the final report. Further information.

This was a ‘thematic network’ of multidisciplinary researchers in 21 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The key questions were: What research exists and what research is still needed? What risks exist, for which technologies, and in relation to which groups of children? How do social, cultural and regulatory influences affect the incidence and experience of, and the responses to, different risks? In accounting for current and ongoing research, and anticipating future research, what factors shape the research capability of European research institutions and networks?

The network identified relevant research to create a publicly accessible database of evidence on children’s use of the internet in Europe. On this basis, we identified research gaps and compared findings across countries to draw conclusions regarding internet risks and safety. To build research capacity, the network critically examined the methodological issues involved in studying children and the internet cross-culturally and generated a Best Practice Guide for researchers. To contextualise this field of research, our next reportexamined the intellectual, social, institutional and funding regimes across Europe. Finally, the network developed evidence-based policy recommendations for raising awareness, media literacy and other practical actions to promote safer use of the internet for children. All this work was brought together in our final report for stakeholders and an academic book. Further information.