What age group uses the Web most heavily? The latest numbers may surprise you.
Here a ranking of unique Web site visitors by age group for February 2006:
- 50 and older: 47 million.
- 35-49: 42.5 million.
- 17 and under: 30.3 million.
- 25-34: 19.9 million.
- 18-24: 11.2 million.
Seventeen-and-under users are third; traditional college-age students are dead last. Digital generation? Geezers rule the Web.
Source: Etter, Lauren. "Google vs. Justice: Privacy, Pornography, Secrets." The Wall Street Journal, 18-19 March 2006, A7.
While interesting on their own, those numbers would be more interesting as percentages. Looking at readily-available 2004 estimates (tricky, because the Census Bureau site I looked at doesn’t split at 18), I see–assuming that 18 and 19 year olds account for 40% of those 15-19–and omitting the 0-5 year population as probably not representing much internet use:
1. 6-17: 74% of 41 million
2. 35-49: 65% of 65.2 million
3. 50+: 61% of 76.9 million
4. 25-34: 50% of 39.9 million
5. 18-24: 42% of 27 million
So, by this metric, traditional college-age students do appear to be dead last, but the young’uns are the most avid users. Alternatively, people ages 25-34 don’t make their ages known when on the internet…
Us geezers are right in the middle. But there are a whole bunch of us geezers around.
I would wonder how “unique web site visitors by age group” can be calculated, but that’s another question.
Walt:
Thanks for the additional analysis, which does put a different spin on the numbers, especially for the 17-and-under-crowd. Still, I find it quite interesting that, in your analysis, the 18-to-24-year-olds remain dead last and the 25-to-34-year-olds remain next to last.
Charles: I wonder about that too, and what I particularly wonder is how reliable these figures are–how we “know” how old web users are. I can’t think of more than half a dozen sites where I’ve given my age, and then almost always on secure pages.
That’s what I suggested in passing by “people ages 25-34 (and maybe people ages 18-24) are less inclined to make their ages known when on the internet. Probable? No. Possible? Yes.
Also note that I could be incorrect in leaving 0-5 year olds out of the under 17 bracket. I’m pretty confident about 0-1 year olds, but there are certainly 3-5 year old kids who can read and type well enough to use the internet…that would reduce the percentages.
Walt:
The article doesn’t indicate how the age data was gathered. The data sources seem to be reputable, and the Wall Street Journal seems like a credible publication. But, I agree that it is a mystery how the age data where gathered.