Global trends: Asia Pacific now makes up 50% of all internet users

Sep 7, 2016 | China

There has been remarkable growth in the Asia-Pacific region, with the web audience increasing 20% in just 18 months, according to new research. Digital in APAC 2016 from We Are Social Singapore The study, from We Are Social, also reveals that the number of people using social media from mobile devices is up a staggering […]

There has been remarkable growth in the Asia-Pacific region, with the web audience increasing 20% in just 18 months, according to new research.


The study, from We Are Social, also reveals that the number of people using social media from mobile devices is up a staggering 50%.
This compares to average global growth of 19% and 39% respectively for the same measures.
Here are the headline numbers for digital connectivity in APAC:
• Internet users in APAC: 1.83 Billion
• Social media users in APAC: 1.43 Billion
• Mobile connections in APAC: 3.86 Billion
• Mobile social media users in APAC: 1.36 Billion
APAC is now home to more than half of the world’s internet users, but based on share of population, the region still lags on all the report’s connectivity measures except for mobile social media use:
• APAC’s share of total global population: 55%
• APAC’s share of global internet users: 50%
• APAC’s share of global social media users: 53%
• APAC’s share of global mobile connections: 49%
• APAC’s share of global social media users: 56%
Despite this lag though, the acceleration in mobile adoption around the region is cause for optimism, especially in APAC’s more ‘developing’ economies. However, as we’ll see below, there are still some areas for concern, especially when it comes to equality of access.
It’s also worth noting that much of the growth in digital use around APAC over recent months has been driven by a handful of countries, so it’s worth digging into the individual data points for context and insight.
Source: We Are Social

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