13
September
2023

Fundamental rights of older people: ensuring access to public services in digital societies

Europe’s ageing population is ever-increasing, and our societies are becoming more digitalised. Many public services are now available online, with many more services in the process of being digitalised. But the digitalisation of public services poses a risk of exclusion for older persons. In this new report, FRA explores the impact of digitalisation on the fundamental rights of older persons. The report maps the current legislation, policies and practices fostering digital inclusion. It provides an overview of the laws at the national level that provide for equal access to public services, both online and offline. The findings show how Member States safeguard older person’s rights to access services undergoing digitalisation. It outlines how Member States can support digital skills and ensure older people can fully participate in public life.

 

Adopting a fundamental rights perspective to assessing access to public services that are undergoing digitalisation highlights older persons’ particular vulnerability to access barriers. All Member States have laws providing general protection for access to digitalised public services, and all have obligations under EU law to protect against discrimination, including on the basis of age. Yet older persons are disproportionately at risk of being excluded from accessing public services.

In 2001, 16 % of persons in the EU-27 were 65 or older. [246]Eurostat (2023), ‘Population structure indicators at national level’, online data code: DEMO_PJANIND, accessed 11 January 2023.
In 2020, this share rose to 21 %, and it is projected to reach 30 % in 2050. [247] Eurostat (2020), ‘Data browser – Demographic balances and indicators by type of projection’, online data code: PROJ_19NDBI, accessed 23 January 2023.
In 2022, 92 % of all households in the EU-27 had internet access at home. [248]Eurostat (2023), ‘Level of internet access – Households’, online data code TIN00134, accessed 28 March 2023.
Rapid population ageing and the digitalisation of all areas of life will strongly influence the future of the European Union and its Member States.

The digitalisation of all areas of life, and public services in particular, offers a multitude of advantages, such as cost- and time-effectiveness and efficiency. However, it also presents a risk to older persons’ enjoyment of fundamental rights and may increase the digital divide within societies.

Not all persons can equally enjoy the advantages and opportunities of digitalisation. Nor are they equally exposed to the risk of exclusion. For instance, public consultations, engagement in policy dialogue and participation in public life more generally take place online more and more.

As people have different capacities and needs, they need solutions and support that reflect their diversity. Many older persons, in particular the oldest, those with low educational attainment, those at risk of poverty, and those with health issues or disabilities, are left behind and face digital exclusion, data show. That is often interlinked with social exclusion.

Moreover, the prerequisites for digital participation are not fulfilled for everyone. Not all can afford devices and internet access or have the necessary skills and security knowledge to use the digital communication, information and service opportunities. Furthermore, information on the digital skills and internet use of people aged 75 and over is not systematically available in official statistics. That hampers evidence-based policy responses.

FRA’s mapping of national legislation and policies did not find a clear fundamental rights perspective applied to ensuring older persons’ access to public services that are undergoing digitalisation. Rather, it revealed a heterogenous landscape. Legal protections regarding equal access to public services and digital exclusion are general. There are few specific references to older persons and no dedicated legal protection for their fundamental rights that may be at risk because of digitalisation.

The 2020 Council conclusions identified important steps for Europe’s digital development in the next decade. They include addressing digital inequalities and putting people at the centre of digital transformation, by taking a rights-based and life-cycle perspective, which highlights that the digital gap between generations is significant and increases with age. The conclusions also stress the need to maintain non-digital access channels to public services. They call for respect for older persons’ rights and needs, explicitly referring to older persons with and without disabilities.

Member States have legal obligations to protect older persons’ fundamental rights against discrimination based on age. Therefore, Member States should be encouraged to provide explicit legal protections at national level to safeguard older persons’ equal access to public services that are undergoing digitalisation.

The involvement of end-users in the development of services varies, FRA’s research shows. To ensure that the needs of older users of digital public services are considered, they should be involved in designing inclusive and accessible digital services and relevant support services.

 

Definitions of age groups often use arbitrary cut-offs. That is an implicit form of ageism. The definition of ‘older persons’ varies significantly in the context of technology, and in related policy programmes, practices, research and data collection, FRA’s findings demonstrate, in line with existing research and policy reports. Especially arbitrary are the definition of ‘old’ in the context of technology and the use of the term ‘adult’ to refer to the age group 16 to 74 years based on chronological age.

Definition of ‘ageism’

Ageism is the stereotyping of, prejudice against or discrimination against individuals or groups based on their age. Although ageism can target young people, most studies in this area focus on the unfair treatment of older persons. [249] Officer, A., Schneiders, M.L., Wu, D., Nash, P., Thiyagarajan, J. A. and Beard, J. R. (2016), ‘Valuing older people: Time for a global campaign to combat ageism’, Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, Vol. 94, No. 10, pp. 710–710A. For more information, see Swift, H. J., Abrams, D., Lamont, R. A., Drury, L. (2017), ‘The risks of ageism model: How ageism and negative attitudes toward age can be a barrier to active ageing’, Social Issues and Policy Review, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 195–231; and Trusinová, R. (2013), ‘No two ageism are the same: Testing measurement invariance in ageism experience across Europe’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 659–675.

Ageism is deeply structural. That means it “finds expression in institutional systems, individual attitudes and inter-generational relationships”. [250] Equinet Secretariat (2011), Tackling Ageism and Discrimination, Brussels, p. 7; also see Levy, S. R. and Macdonald, J. L. (2016), ‘Progress on understanding ageism’, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 72, No. 1, pp. 5–25.
All manifestations of ageism – at individual, group or societal level – undermine people’s right to human dignity and reduce their potential to contribute actively to society.

 

To foster equal access to public services that are undergoing digitalisation, it is crucial that policy and research targeting older persons with and without disabilities from various backgrounds and genders should have participatory designs.

It is important to encourage dialogue and engagement from the start between older persons, on the one hand, and policymakers, public service designers and engineers, on the other. That will lessen the influence of the deficit-oriented picture of older persons and reduce ethical concerns and structural barriers.

The Digital Decade policy programme set the objective that 80 % of people aged 16 to 74 years should have basic digital skills by 2030. Reaching that requires targeted efforts. People who are older than 75 perceive their lack of skills as an obstacle to using the internet more often than other age groups, as FRA’s Fundamental Rights Survey shows. [251] FRA (2020),’Selected findings on age and digitalisation from FRA’s Fundamental Rights Survey’, background paper for the online conference Strengthening older people’s rights in times of digitalisation – Lessons learned from COVID-19, 28–29 September 2020.

To avoid their digital exclusion and demotivation, it is crucial to include older persons of all ages and motivate them to acquire basic digital skills. For instance, that involves using age-inclusive language and avoiding stereotypical assumptions around older age in the context of technology and digital skills. Moreover, those providing training in digital skills must receive training in avoiding ageist language and behaviour.

Ageism has negative consequences for older persons’ willingness and ability to engage with certain new technologies. Awareness of that also needs to be raised.

A way forward may be for Member States to foster intergenerational or peer learning and intragenerational training. A strong policy focus on digital literacy, lifelong learning opportunities and the promotion of a life course approach would help. They should use the structural funding opportunities effectively, to ensure sustainability of learning and training for all.

The responsibility for acquiring digital skills should not lie only with the individual. Member States should proactively support all initiatives by opening lifelong learning opportunities to older persons of all ages. However, the individual should not be obliged to acquire the necessary digital skills for access to digital services. Public administrations should always provide other access channels for those citizens who cannot, or do not want to, acquire these skills.

National legislation and policies referring to digitalising public services should identify older persons as a group at higher risk of digital exclusion. In addition, efforts should be made to ensure that upper age limits do not exclude them from acquiring digital skills through adult education programmes.

 

Among the targets of the European Digital Decade policy programme is that at least 80 % of the adult population, limited to the age group between 16 and 74 years old, should have at least basic digital skills by 2030. The DESI monitors this age group using data collected through EU-wide surveys and made available through Eurostat’s database.

However, the arbitrary upper age limit of 74 years excludes a substantial and growing part of the adult population, those aged 75 years and more. That group is projected to rise to 20 % of the total in 2050. Excluding them from systematic data collection means that the specific needs and situations of older persons cannot be assessed and monitored.

An unknown proportion of older persons lives in institutions, such as retirement homes and care facilities. Official data collection through surveys does not include such residential institutions. Thus, the monitoring system exclude these people or does not cover them sufficiently.

To ensure that they monitor the socio-economic situations and needs of older persons and persons living in institutions as for other groups, Member States and Eurostat should look into the possibility of developing inclusive data collection approaches. While acknowledging the difficulty of surveying persons living in institutions, all relevant actors should consider ways of including these population groups in the statistical and monitoring system.

However, age cut-offs should not be arbitrary, and reasons should be provided when specific groups are excluded from the data collection. In addition, inclusive language should be applied to avoid perceptions of exclusion. For example, using the term ‘adults’ for those aged 16 to 74 years could potentially imply that older persons might not be adults.