According to a survey conducted by the EU Intellectual Property Office, 56 percent of persons aged 15-24 in Croatia did not access pirated content over the past year, while 28 percent did so intentionally.

The survey was conducted on 7-28 February, covering 22,021 respondents in the EU-27.

Of those in Croatia who did so intentionally, 77 percent accessed films, followed by TV series and shows (68 percent), music (48 percent), software (45 percent), live sport events (34 percent), videogames (41 percent), and e-books (21 percent).

Thirty-one percent of respondents in Croatia intentionally bought a fake product, most often clothes and accessories (12 percent), electronic devices (8 percent), shoes (7 percent), and cosmetics, perfumes, and personal care products (5 percent).

The survey shows that 52 percent of European respondents aged 15-24 bought at least one fake product online, while 33 percent accessed digital content from illegal sources.

Thirty-seven percent bought a fake product intentionally, while 21 percent used, played, downloaded or streamed content from illegal sources, the most in Greece (62 percent) and the least in the Czech Republic (24 percent).

The fake products young people in the EU buy intentionally are most often clothes and accessories (17 percent), shoes (14 percent), electronic devices (13 percent), and cosmetics, perfumes, and personal care products (12 percent).

As for digital content, 60 percent of respondents did not use, play, download or stream content from illegal sources over the last year.

The survey shows that 21 percent of young consumers consciously accessed pirated material in the last year, with 12 percent doing so by accident, while 7 percent don’t know if they did.

Films accounted for the most pirated material (61 percent), followed by TV series (52 percent) and music (36 percent).

The survey shows that price and availability remain the main reasons for buying fake products and digital piracy, but peer influence and social influence are becoming increasingly important.

Cyber threats, fraud and environmental impact are among the most important factors deterring young people from fakes and piracy.