Doctor Google Will See You Now

For many people nowadays, the first port of call upon discovering an unusual rash or feeling a worrying pain is not the doctor, but rather Google.

As Statista’s Martin Armstrong details below, figures from Eurostat show the countries which are relying the most on medical information from the internet. In Finland, 8 out of 10 respondents said that they had turned to the web for health-related information – an increase of 22 percentage points on 2011. Denmark recorded similar levels of reliance on Dr. Google – 75 percent.

You will find more infographics at Statista

In Spain in 2011, just 38 percent of adults professed to seeking medical information online, but as statista’s infographic above  shows, there has been a huge increase, with 69 percent now saying they turn to Google et al for health advice. A similarly large increase was also recorded in Ireland.

In Germany, however, reliance on the internet for these topics saw a decrease between 2011 and 2021 – from 54 to 45 percent.