Prague, Dec 3 (CTK) – The number of seniors who use computer, tablets, and notebooks has been steadily rising in the Czech Republic, making up about one third of people over 65 now, compared with 17 percent five years ago, according to data released by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).
Almost 20 percent of seniors, 380,300 of them, surf on the Internet daily or almost daily, but over one half of seniors have never used the Internet so far, the CSU’s report on the use of information and communication technologies shows.
Czech society is aging and the number of seniors is rising, along with the life period Czechs spend in good health and condition, the report states.
A number of people remain active until their high age, and many old people have money they saved during their professional career.
About 46 percent of people over 65 surfed on the Internet once in their life at least, while 54 percent, or more than one million people, never did so.
Seniors most often use a computer or a tablet to go online. Only one in 17 use a cell phone for this purpose, but it was one in 250 in 2012 and one in 40 in 2014.
Seniors mainly seek information on goods and services online, followed by information concerning health, travelling, and accommodation.
Almost 65,000 (30 percent] seniors read news on the Internet, compared with 13 percent five years ago.
Almost 20 percent of seniors bought something online once in their life at least. In 2012, about 4 percent of seniors had this experience, and their share has risen to 13 percent now.
About 16,600 seniors spent more than 10,000 crowns in e-shops in the first three months of 2017, and 47,900 seniors spent a sum up to 2,500 crowns.
Most often they bought clothes, shoes and house appliances, but also vitamins, cosmetics, electronic devices, toys and sports goods. Among services bought online, they preferred accommodation, various entrance fees, trips, air and transport tickets.
Almost 240,000 (12 percent) Czech seniors have Internet banking, compared with 4 percent in 2012.
Three in 10 seniors, or 571,000, use e-mail, and one in nine use Internet phone service.
Three percent of Czechs over 65 have downloaded photos on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram, and some 99,300 have their profile on social networks.
About 3 percent of seniors use applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, and Viber.
Online games are played by 79,000 seniors and several thousands watch paid films and other programmes online.
Several thousands of seniors use the Internet for self-education, taking part in online courses and using educative documents, the CSU writes in its report.
($1=21.475 crowns)
rtj/dr
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