China sees rise in internet users, with more senior citizens going online

In China, more than 1.03 billion people were internet users by the end of last year, of whom, those over 60 were 119 million, a report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center said on Friday.

The number of senior netizens demonstrates that the elderly people have been accelerating their integration into the network society, the report said.

The report showed that 52.1 percent of the senior netizens purchase daily necessities online, with 46.2 percent surfing the internet for finding information.

It said more than 57.6 percent of people living in rural areas have access to internet, adding that the gap between cities and countryside was narrowing.

The average time that a netizen spent online last year was about 28.5 hours per week, 2.3 hours more than that in 2020, it said.

More than 90.5 percent of the total netizens online were short-video users, it added.