EUROPEAN DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY SURVEY 2025
Most users meet digital barriers. Many of them just leave.
We asked 6,599 people in Italy, Germany, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom what got in their way when they tried to shop, bank, or use a public service online, and what they did next.
73.1%
of Europeans regularly encounter digital barriers when they shop, bank, or use a public service online.
68.4%
have abandoned at least one digital process because of a barrier.
6,599
people surveyed by five local research institutes, each with its own representative panel.
5
markets: Italy, Germany, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom.
ABANDONMENT RATE BY MARKET
Abandonment rate looks different in every market
A 26 percentage point gap separates Italy from France. A single European average would hide that gap entirely.
Italy
84%
Sample 1,030, YouGov.
Germany
80.7%
Sample 2,500, Civey.
Austria
78.6%
Sample 1,057, Marketagent.
France
58%
Sample 1,012, Opinea.
Abandonment rate: share of respondents who have abandoned a digital process because of a barrier. A separate measure from the barrier-encounter rate. Accessiway European Digital Accessibility Survey, 2025.
MOST COMMON DIGITAL BARRIERS
The barriers people report are ordinary
Intrusive ads. Slow pages. Navigation that doesn't hold together. Layouts that don't fit a phone. Nothing here is an edge case.
Italy
Intrusive ads and pop-ups
44%
Slow loading times
27%
Unclear or missing instructions
23%
France
Poor readability
38%
Navigation difficulties, unclear structure
36%
Long loading times
25%
Austria
Navigation difficulties
31%
Germany
Navigation issues
17%
United Kingdom
Poor readability
27%
Mobile navigation issues across all five markets
About 20% of people report layouts that don't work on a phone, and about 20% report confusing navigation and small tap targets. Fixing either one means starting with the basics, before anything else.
All bars share a 0 to 50% scale. Barrier questions were asked separately in each market, so the lists differ in depth.
THE GENERATIONAL PICTURE
This generational gap points to where the national numbers are heading
Gen Z and Millennial respondents abandon at a different rate than the national picture. As they become a larger share of any customer base, the national number moves toward theirs.
Germany
National, all adults
80.7%
Gen Z and Millennial
79.8%
Austria
National, all adults
78.6%
Gen Z and Millennial
74%
France
National, all adults
58%
Gen Z and Millennial
64%
United Kingdom
National, all adults
Not measured
Gen Z and Millennial
51%
Frequent abandonment rate in Italy
Among Italians aged 18 to 34, 18% say they abandon frequently, against a 15% national average.
Aged 18 to 34
18%
National average
15%
EXPECTATION AND PROGRESS
Awareness has moved faster than the fixing
What people expect
86%
of Italians say websites, apps, and digital services should be usable by people with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities.
80%
extend that same expectation to people with lower digital literacy.
Italy. Older users are named in all five markets, so the expectation is not limited to disability as a category.
The satisfaction gap
Share saying progress on digital accessibility has been insufficient. Asked in three markets.
Italy
44%
Austria
38%
Germany
18%
Germany's 18% is ambiguous
Germany's 18% could reflect real progress German users have noticed, or lower awareness of what accessible design looks like when it works. The survey doesn't let us separate the two.
THE REGULATORY BACKDROP
Five national laws, one shared technical standard
National laws sit on top of a common European framework, and nearly all of them trace their technical requirements back to the same place.
LAYER 1 · NATIONAL LAWS
The Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz brings the European Accessibility Act into German law, extending accessibility duties to the private sector.
The Référentiel général d'amélioration de l'accessibilité sets the French compliance framework and its conformance-declaration duties.
The decreto legislativo 82/2022 established Italy’s accessibility duties. AgID guidelines carry the operational and technical detail organizations are measured against.
The Barrierefreiheitsgesetz is Austria’s transposition of the European Accessibility Act, covering designated products and services placed on the market.
United Kingdom, outside the EU framework
The Equality Act sets the general duty not to discriminate. The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations add specific duties for public-sector websites and apps.
LAYER 2 · COMMON EU FRAMEWORK
The EAA harmonizes accessibility requirements across EU member states. That is why the national laws above overlap so heavily in substance, even where they differ in name, scope, and enforcement.
FOUNDATION · THE TECHNICAL STANDARD
Technical requirements in nearly every market trace back to WCAG 2.1. Build to the standard once, and you've addressed the substance of most of the frameworks stacked above it. The differences sit in names, deadlines, and enforcement. The code has to meet the same bar everywhere.
WHERE TO START
The barriers people report most are the least technical to fix
Each item ties back to what people in a specific market told us they experienced.
Cut the interruptions
Italy, 44%
Intrusive ads and pop-ups are the most reported barrier in Italy. Interstitials, autoplaying overlays, and cookie walls that trap keyboard focus.
Make text readable
France 38%, UK 27.3%
Poor readability leads in both markets. Contrast ratios, text size, and line length, not a redesign.
Make navigation predictable
Austria 31%, Germany 17%
Consistent structure, a visible focus indicator, and tap targets people can actually hit.
Make it work on a phone
About 20% in all five markets
Layouts that reflow to one column, no horizontal scrolling, and controls that stay reachable.
METHOD AND SOURCING
How this survey was run
Each market was run as a representative online survey with a local research institute rather than a convenience panel. Fieldwork ran from August to November 2025.
It records that people report abandoning digital processes because of barriers. It does not quantify revenue lost, or revenue recovered by fixing them. Any business case built on this page stays conditional for that reason.
Accessibility is a right, not a nice-to-have.
We work with your team to find the barriers people are reporting, fix them, and keep them from coming back.
Source: European Digital Accessibility Survey, Accessiway. Fieldwork August to November 2025, with YouGov (Italy), Civey (Germany), Marketagent (Austria), Opinea (France), and Censuswide (United Kingdom). Total sample 6,599.