ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

Excluded from digital society in an e-country: understanding the elderly role and needs in rural Estonia

Not scheduled

20m

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

Poster Track 07 | INCLUSION

Speaker

Mariia Bochkova

Description

The aging population is a significant challenge for modern society, especially in Europe and Estonia. The elderly percent in Estonia in 2024 is already above 20% of the population, while at the beginning of the 21st century, it was only 15%. Shrinking rural areas is one of the results of the aging population. Local municipalities face significant challenges in fulfilling their duties while operating with constrained resources. One way to promote the requested services to extended areas is to promote them digitally. Estonia is known as an e-country, with a high digital public service usage rate. Despite the idea of universal accessibility that has informed the Estonian digital transformation, the digital divide and exclusion persist. Certain social groups often face greater difficulties, leading to their digital exclusion. Notably, the elderly struggle to adapt to digital technology advancement. Lack of knowledge, information, skills, or motivation makes it harder for them to be included in a digital society. While governmental transitions to digital services, intended for optimization, force all parts of society to participate digitally. This research focuses on understanding the digital and real-world needs of the elderly in rural Estonia (Hiiumaa, Paide, Rõuge, and Toila) against the backdrop of a dominant digital transformation. Employing a triangulation method, we integrate data from the municipal policy to the individual level. The study includes municipality policy document reviews, round table discussions with municipal representatives, qualitative expert interviews, and observations from public events involving local elderly communities. Our research aims to uncover gaps in addressing the needs of the elderly and to explore key questions: To what extent do different stakeholders understand the needs of the elderly? What common topics emerge, which needs have hitherto gained less attention, and where should compromises be sought among policymakers, experts, municipal workers, and the elderly?