Social media, mobile and the internet in Asia: by the numbers

You may have heard that China has the world’s largest mobile phone user base (at just over a billion) or that social media platforms like Sina Weibo have more than 300-million users. When it comes to Asia, you’re almost always talking numbers with lots of zeros. But what numbers are these, exactly?

If you take a flip through the masses of stats compiled by digital agency WeAreSocial, you may feel like the term ‘million’ has lost its potency. There are now over three-billion mobile phone users in Asia (around one in five people have a smartphone), and 12 countries in the region have over 100% mobile penetration — yes, there are more phones than people in countries like Singapore, Macao and the Maldives.

There are more than a billion internet users in Asia, and more people connect using phones than traditional desktop computers, although internet penetration in individual countries ranges from one percent in Myanmar to 83% in South Korea. If you’re still doubting the power of the region, look at this stat: 45% of the world’s internet users live in Asia, and countries in Asia-Pacific account for almost a third of global ecommerce revenue.

What about social media? Netizens from the 24 countries included in the report represent half of all social media users worldwide. Facebook dominates the area, but other networks like Twitter, Cyworld, Qzone and Zing have more users in Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam respectively.

There are more stats and detailed country-level break downs in the slideshow below:

[Via Tech in Asia]