Old people left behind on Internet

Almost all Koreans younger than 20 have access to the Internet, while only one out of five aged 50 or older do, a new survey by the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion found. According to the agency, the gap between Internet user rates among the old and the young is as large as 77 percentage points, compared with just 34 percentage points in the United States. The figures indicate that Korea, with the largest ratio of Internet users in the world at 70 percent, has for the large part let its elderly fall behind. The survey, released yesterday, also found that slightly more Korean men use the Internet than women: three-quarters to two-thirds. Japan had a similar gender gap, while in the United States, both sexes use the Internet regularly in equal ratio: three out of five. Income was also found to be a central factor in determining the likelihood of a person’s having Internet access. According to the survey, well over 80 percent of households with over 4 million won in monthly income use the Internet, whereas only two in five of those making around 1 million per month do so. The survey also found a 35-percentage point gap in Internet access, favoring the able-bodied over the disabled. The gap in Japan and the United States was between a half to two-thirds that figure. by Seo Ji-eun