JUST UNDER ONE in two people in Ireland remain concerned about sharing personal information online, according to new research. 

The research was carried out by the Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research (WIN), which includes Irish group Red C Research.

It found that almost half of Irish people (46%) say they are concerned about sharing their personal data online. This is a decline of 8% from 2019 to 2020, placing Ireland close to the global average of 45%. 

This decline has been driven mainly by a decline in concern among older people. Just 42% of those aged 55+ say they are concerned about sharing their data online compared to 56% a year ago. 

Despite a significant drop since 2019, those aged 35-54 are still more concerned about sharing their personal information than younger and older age groups. 

The research also found that just over one in five (21%) people in Ireland say they are fine with the privacy practices of most data collectors, with no significant differences across age, social grade or region. 

The number of people who think that sharing personal information is necessary nowadays has increased in the past year, up from 18% in 2019 to 22% in 2020.

Just over one in five (21%) Irish people believe they know what happens with their personal data after it is shared with a data collector.

This places Ireland significantly below the global average (27%).

“In 2020 we saw a move to digital where possible. This change in behaviour has resulted in a greater level of acceptance with sharing personal information online,” Red C Research managing director Sinead Mooney said.

“However, there remain concerns about whether sharing of personal information is necessary and the privacy practices of data collectors,” Mooney said.

“There is room for a greater level of transparency among data collectors, in order to build trust and confidence in an increasingly digital world.” 

The survey was carried out on 29,252 people in 34 countries using online survey methods. In Ireland, a representative sample of over 1,000 adults were carried out online. Fieldwork was conducted in November 2020.