The line graph illustrates the percentage of elderly people in the United States who participated in five different free-time activities from the 1980s to the 2010s.
Overall, hiking became increasingly popular throughout the period and eventually ranked as the most common leisure activity. By contrast, theatre attendance declined at first before recovering slightly. Watching TV remained consistently popular, while both reading and surfing the Internet experienced notable growth towards the end of the period.
In the 1980s, watching TV was the most popular activity, accounting for approximately 60% of elderly people. This figure increased gradually to around 70% in the 2000s before falling slightly to about 65% in the 2010s. Meanwhile, hiking started at only 20%, but it rose steadily to 40% in the 1990s and 60% in the 2000s, eventually peaking at approximately 80% in the final decade.
Turning to the remaining activities, around 50% of older people attended the theatre in the 1980s. However, this figure declined to 30% in the 1990s before recovering gradually to approximately 45% by the end of the period. Reading followed a similar pattern initially, beginning at around 30% and increasing to 40% in the 1990s. It then fell sharply to 20% in the 2000s before rebounding significantly to 60% in the 2010s. Finally, surfing the Internet was the least popular activity at roughly 5% in the 1980s. Although it remained relatively low until the 2000s, it increased dramatically to around 50% in the final decade.