SWS: 46% of adult Filipinos use internet

The survey, conducted from March 38 to 31 this year, also revealed that a record-high 50 percent of Filipino women are internet users, which is “statistically similar” to the 49 percent in December 2018. (File Photo by KC Wong/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

The latest survey of Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed that 46 percent of adult Filipinos are using the internet.

This figure, the SWS said, is “statistically similar” to the record-high 47 percent recorded in December 2018 given the survey’s sampling error margin of plus or minus 2.6 percent at the national level, and plus or minus five percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

It added that this data proves that there is an “upward trend” in the number of internet users in the Philippines since June 2006.

“Back then, the survey found that 8% of adults were internet users. The proportion ranged from 11% to 19% from September 2007 to December 2011, then from 23% to 32% from March 2012 to December 2015,” the pollster noted.

Among geographic areas, Metro Manila has the highest number of internet users, with 64 percent. It was followed by Balance Luzon at 48 percent, Mindanao at 39 percent, and Visayas at 34 percent.

Moreover, there are more internet users in urban areas with 56 percent, compared to 38 percent in rural areas.

The survey, conducted from March 28 to 31 this year, also revealed that a record-high 50 percent of Filipino women are internet users, which is “statistically similar” to the 49 percent in December 2018. Meanwhile, 41 percent of Filipino men use the internet.

In terms of age, most internet users are 18-24 years old at 86 percent, followed by those aged 25-34 years old at 71 percent, 35-44 years old at 55 percent, 45-54 years old at 30 percent, and those aged 55 years and above at 14 percent.

By educational attainment, the proportion of internet users is highest among college graduates at 79 percent, followed by high school graduates at 58 percent, elementary graduates at 33 percent, and non-elementary graduates at 11 percent.

The March 2019 survey used face-to-face interviews on its 1,440 respondents aged 18 years old and above nationwide: 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

It has a sampling error margins of plus or minus 2.6 percent for national percentages, and plus or minus five percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.