Turkish elderly 2nd-most active on social media in the Europe

On the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, which is celebrated every year on Oct. 1, Eurostat published data on Internet and social media usage among the elderly. The data revealed that Turkish elders are among the most active when compared to other countries in Europe. According to the survey results conducted among the 65-74 age group, 41 percent of the elderly in the EU use the Internet, while a mere 5 percent of the Turkish elderly use the Internet. Although this number is drastically lower than the EU average, the survey demonstrated that the Icelandic elderly are the most active elderly people on social media with 60 percent followed by the Turkish elderly with 52 percent. Additionally, 51 percent of the Hungarian elderly within the 65-74 age group are active on social media followed by Portuguese with 44 percent and Malta and Sweden with 43 percent each. Germany ranks last on the list with 11 percent, well below the EU average of 23 percent of the elderly who are active on social networks.

Other striking differences on Internet usage also exist among countries. In Denmark, 84 percent of the elderly within the 65-74 age group uses the Internet followed by 81 percent in Luxembourg and 78 percent in Sweden. At the bottom of the list is Cyprus with 16 percent followed by Greece with 14 percent and Romania and Bulgaria with 10 percent each.

The survey showed that the elderly in the EU primarily uses the Internet for email. While 86 percent reads email, 79 percent uses the Internet to research information on products and services, 60 percent reads the news on the Internet and 42 percent shop on the Internet. For Turkey, 43 percent of the elderly people within the 65-74 age group use the Internet to read email, while 65 percent is interested in researching information on products and services, 81 percent reads the news on the Internet and 15 percent shops.