45% of adult Pinoys internet users — SWS

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly half of the number of adult Filipinos are internet users, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey in December last year.

The survey, fielded on Dec. 13-16, 2019, showed that 45 percent of Filipino adults use the internet.

This was similar to the record-high 47 percent in December 2018 and September 2019.

The survey, which was conducted prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 respondents, aged 18 and above.

Since June 2006, internet use has always been highest in Metro Manila compared with internet use in balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, according to the SWS.

It has also been consistently higher in urban than in rural areas, it said.

The proportion of internet users rose in Metro Manila from 62 percent in September 2019 to 65 percent in December 2019.

It increased in the Visayas from 33 percent in September 2019 to a new record-high 39 percent in December 2019.

It hardly changed in balance Luzon, barely moving from 50 percent in September 2019 to 49 percent in December 2019, but it fell in Mindanao, down from the record-high 42 percent in September 2019 to 32 percent in December 2019.

The proportion of internet users went up in urban areas from 56 percent in September 2019 to 59 percent in December 2019.

It fell in rural areas from a record-high 41 percent in September 2019 to 34 percent in December 2019.

The survey also showed that almost all or 98 percent or an estimated 29.4 million individuals of adult internet users have Facebook accounts. This is equivalent to 44 percent of the total adult population of 66.2 million, based on the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2019, the SWS said.

YouTube was the second most popular social media platform with 18 percent (an estimated 12.1 million individuals), followed by Instagram with six percent (about 3.8 million individuals), Snapchat with four percent (around 2.4 million individuals), Twitter with three percent (estimated 2.3 million individuals), and Viber with two percent (around 1.2 million individuals).