According to figures published recently by the Belgian Bureau of Statistics, 35% of Belgians over the age of 75 have never used the internet before. A further 5% told the study that the last time they had used the internet was more than 3 months ago. Older people that use the internet generally do so to use online banking apps and to make (video)calls using apps such as WhatsApp.
Only 60% of the people in Belgium aged 75 and older use the internet regularly. This compares with 96% of people aged between 16 and 74.
The is also a significant difference in levels of internet use between the sexes among Belgians aged 75 and older 69% of men say that they use the internet, while this is the case among just 52% of the women aged over 75 that took part in the survey. Among the population as a whole, 97% of men and 95% of women say that they use the internet.
Older people use the internet most for banking (46%), to make telephone calls of video calls via online communications apps (34%) or to use messaging services such as Whatsapp (25%).