Internet use is on the rise - especially among the 60+ generation
According to the latest edition of the NET-Metrix-Base 2009-1 Internet study, about 80 percent of Swiss people aged 14 and older use the Internet. This represents a four percent increase over the previous year. The age group of those over 60 recorded the strongest growth rate at nine percent.
Women use the internet less
The data analysis shows a clear difference between the genders. While around 70% of men use the internet daily, only 52% of women do so. However, women are catching up, with their daily Internet use increasing by 10% compared to the previous year, compared to just 8% of men. Women are particularly present in the group of offline users. One in four women do not use the Internet at all. Among men, the proportion of offline users is around 14%.
Number of offline users decreasing
In addition to the continuous increase in daily internet users, the number of offline users is steadily decreasing. Whereas in 2003 there were roughly the same number of daily users as offline users, the difference today is over 40 percentage points (see chart below).
The highest growth rate is among the 60+ generation
The number of offline users is highest in the older age groups over 60. Almost 40 percent of people over 60 and even 75 percent of people over 70 still do not use the Internet at all. In contrast, there are now almost no offline users in the under-30 age group.
Although the proportion of internet users decreases with increasing age, it should be noted that the over-60 age group in particular recorded the strongest growth rate compared to the previous year. Around 41% of people aged 60 and over have used the internet in the last six months. This figure is around 9% higher than in 2008, meaning that the growth rate of Internet use among the 60+ generation is more than twice as high as that of the population as a whole.
