Agenda

As of December 2020, the number of Internet users in China had reached 989 million, the number of mobile Internet users had reached 986 million, and the Internet penetration had reached 70.4%. Among them, the proportion of Internet users aged 50 and above reached 26.3%, with the Internet further penetrating into the middle-aged and elderly groups.

After more than two decades of rapid development，the Internet have penetrated into all aspects of the economy and society in China. It has become the new normal for people to use the Internet for work and life. China is a country with a large population, and it is also a country with a large elderly population. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, as of the end of 2019, the number of people aged 60+ in China reached 253.88 million, accounting for 18.1% of the total population.

With the rapid digital transformation of society, the digital application of the elderly has begun to receive unprecedented attention. Aiming at the problem of the elderly’s difficulty in using smart technology, clarifying the daily needs of the elderly for Internet use, and focusing on solving the urgent problems of the elderly in using smart technology, it is becoming the consensus of the regulatory authorities, related enterprises and the society. In order to solve this problem, Chinese government has made a package of plans and actions to support the elderly in using smart technologies and reserve traditional way of services for them, and help them to stay healthy, connected and independent in the information society. 

On November 24, 2020, the General Office of the State Council of China issued the Implementation Plan on Effectively Solving the Difficulties of the Elderly in Using Intelligent Technology. On December 25, 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China issued the Special Action Plan for the Ageing and Accessibility of Internet Applications.

With the theme of "Accelerating Adaptable Aging Services to Promote the Comprehensive Development of Information Accessibility", ISC will host a thematic workshop at the WSIS Forum 2021. The representatives from multistakeholder community will be invited to share their insight on the issue related to aging services and construction of an inclusive information society