Digital Engagement in an Ageing Society: Rising Engagement, Persistent Disparities, and Multilevel Associated Factors

In the context of active ageing, equitable digital engagement is essential to sustaining older adults’ social participation. Using the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2014 to 2022, this study constructed a composite index of older adults’ digital engagement and examined its associated factors, as well as the degree and source of inequality using multiple imputation, a Heckman two-step selection model, the Theil Index, and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. The results show that: (1) Digital engagement increased substantially, but divides persisted between older adults and middle-aged and younger adults and within the older population across age, urban–rural, and regional groups. (2) In the main Heckman model, education, household income, and non-agricultural Hukou were positively associated with digital engagement, while life satisfaction was negatively associated. Associations for medical and pension insurance, gender, marital status, family size, and self-rated health were sensitive to analytical specifications. (3) Inequalities in digital engagement across the age, urban–rural, and regional dimensions were predominantly attributable to within-group disparities. (4) The unexplained component dominated the age-group gap, whereas the explained component accounted for most of the urban–rural gap. In 2022, the regional gap was not statistically significant, with the two components largely offsetting each other. Given the inequalities in digital engagement among older adults, policies should expand access to digital resources and reduce the barriers faced by disadvantaged groups to ensure that the benefits of digitalization are more equitably shared.