More senior citizens accessing internet: IDA survey

AS Singapore races to become the world's first Smart Nation, more senior citizens are becoming IT savvy, accessing many government services and information via the internet.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore's (IDA) Annual Survey on Infocomm Usage in Households 2014, which came out on Thursday, shows that computer usage rate by senior citizens aged 50-59 and 60 and above rose significantly to 63 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively last year, an increase of 14 per cent and 11 per cent from 2012. Even though this is an annual survey, the report compares data with 2012 in order to show a three-year trend, an IDA spokeswoman said.

The Internet usage rate by senior citizens aged 50-59 and 60 and above rose to 75 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, in 2014, an increase of 24 per cent and 15 per cent from 2012, respectively.

The survey showed that last year, more than three-quarters of senior citizens aged 50 to 59 and one-third of those aged 60 years and above used a smartphone to access the internet in the past three months (from when they were interviewed for the survey results).

This represented an increase of 30 per cent and 19 per cent for the two age groups respectively from 2012.