eMarketer: Asia Pacific's Internet and smartphone penetration rates rank second to last in the world

199IT original compilation

The low penetration rate of Internet and smartphone users in the Asia-Pacific region will continue next year.

The Internet penetration rate in the Asia-Pacific region is still the lowest in the world, mainly due to the large gap between countries. Developed countries like South Korea have a high penetration rate, but large areas of rural areas in India are not yet connected to the Internet.

According to eMarketer’s latest estimates of global internet usage, this year Asia Pacific ranks second to last in terms of internet penetration, at just over a third of the population, followed by the Middle East and Africa. This situation is not expected to improve until 2018.

The smartphone penetration rate in the Asia-Pacific region is also ranked second to last in the world, only slightly better than the Middle East and Africa. A quarter of the population in the Asia-Pacific region owns or uses a smartphone; North America, which ranks first, has a penetration rate of 51.5%; the world average penetration rate is 24.6%. Although by 2018, one-third of residents in the Asia-Pacific region will become smartphone users, it still ranks relatively low in the world.

Compiled from: eMarketer Translator: Sun Ying