The COQS index is a measure that combines four types of skills in using the Internet into an overall "digital literacy" score. The skills included are:

• Communicating with others (by e-mail and other online methods),
• Obtaining (or downloading) and installing software on a computer,
• Questioning the source of information on the Internet and
• Searching for the required information using search engines.

The "COQS" index combines these items (based on self-assessment) into a single scale with a range from 0 to 3, with "0" representing the lowest possible digital literacy score and "3" representing the highest. The overall average score on the COQS scale is 0.8 in the EU-15 countries and 0,35 in the NAS-10 countries compared with the US score of 1.5. The level of digital literacy varies strongly within the EU, with the NAS-10 countries in general as the ones showing the lowest level of Digital Literacy among the total population. Estonia and Slovenia show a slightly higher level of Digital Literacy than the EU-15 countries Italy, Spain, France, Greece and Portugal.