The changing demographic structure of the population, resulting in unparalleled growth of
the elderly population, means that e-inclusion of this population group is considered to be a
social and political priority in the context of the Information Society. Most research studies
have only considered individual variables -such as age, gender, education, income and
health- in the explanatory models of e-inclusion of senior citizens, while ignoring macro variables,
such as the welfare systems and public policies in each country. Simultaneously,
most studies focus on small-scale samples, lack international comparisons and do not consider
the combined effect of several variables that influence Internet use. This study aims to
analyse possible differences between two countries that have different welfare systems and
public policies, after controlling for the effects of the individual variables that have been identified
in the literature as relevant for Internet use. The study focuses on a sample of 8639
individuals, aged 50 years and over, residing in Portugal and Estonia, who participated in
the SHARE project (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe). The results of the
logistic regression analysis demonstrate that welfare systems and public policies have an
impact on the likelihood of Internet use, thus reinforcing the importance of developing public
policies to foster e-inclusion of senior citizens.The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT