More and more older people in Switzerland are using the Internet
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More and more older people in Switzerland are using the Internet
In Switzerland, almost the entire population aged 14 and over is online. According to a study, the proportion of older people in particular who use the internet has increased significantly over the past three years.
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From the beginning of 2022 to the end of 2024, the proportion of pensioners who use the internet rose by 4.3 percentage points. Overall, 79.8% of people in this age group now use the internet, according to a study published on Tuesday by the advertising media research institute WEMF.
Overall – as at the end of March 2025 – almost 95% of people aged 14 and over used the internet.
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In addition to usage itself, the study also sheds light on which devices the Swiss population uses to go online. The smartphone is the undisputed leader here: 94.7% of all internet users use it.
And almost 85% of retired people also use their smartphone to access the internet today. Three years ago, the figure was 81%, according to the report.
Devices vary depending on age group
Overall, however, there were clear differences in the choice of devices used depending on the age group: among retired people, smartphones are followed primarily by permanently installed computers with a user share of 56.8%, closely followed by laptops or netbooks (56.6%) and tablet PCs (44.7%).
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However, young adults aged 20 to 29 prefer laptops after smartphones, with a share of around 93%. This is followed by TVs or games consoles in this age group (66.2%).
Permanently installed computers are only used by around half of users in this age group. Meanwhile, tablet PCs are particularly popular among 40 to 49-year-olds. A total of 7,772 people were surveyed for the study between October 2024 and the end of March 2025.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
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