A GLOBAL TREND

Young people are more likely to turn to social media for information than older generations, though few in the younger age group said they trust social media “a lot” to provide accurate information, according to a new global survey by UNICEF and Gallup.

Overall, 45 percent of young people ages 15 to 24 said social media is a “go-to” information source, while just 17 percent of those ages 40 and older said the same, according to the survey. The findings were based on survey responses from people in 21 countries.

The 28 percentage-point gap on social media as a source of information is the greatest gap separating the age groups among the wide-ranging questions included in the report.

In every country surveyed, young people are at least 10 percentage points more likely than older people to use online sources for information, and in most countries the difference is 30 percentage points or more, the UNICEF report found.