16% of visitors to online dating sites are above 55 years old

In August, more than 16% of those active on the top five dating sites, including Yahoo! Personals and Match.com, were 55 and over, and more than 5% were 65 and over, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. That's up from 15% in the 55-plus category and 4.8% in the over-65 group a year earlier. Overall, the number of people active on top dating sites grew to 22.53 mln in August from 22.28 mln a year ago. Observers say one of the main obstacles in online dating for people 60 and older was overcoming their technophobia, but that seems to be fading as more people use computers and the Internet. Of the nearly 148 mln people active online in August, nearly 20% were over 55 and more than 7% over 65, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.