Investvine 1 Feb: Thai people are spending an average of nine hours and 38 minutes daily on the Internet, with around one third of this time used for consuming social media. This makes the country ranking first in Internet time spent in the world, followed by the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa.

These are the results for the newly released 2018 Global Digital Report by UK-based creative agency We Are Social and Canadian social media marketing firm Hootsuite.

The Philippines took first place for the greatest amount of time spent on social media daily (three hours and 57 minutes). Brazil is just behind them (three hours and 39 minutes) while Indonesia (three hours 23 minutes) and Thailand (three hours ten minutes) come in third and fourth place, respectively.

Interestingly, even though the top five spots are dominated by Southeast Asian countries, only 58 per cent of people in the region have access to the Internet, which highlights a significant digital gap in the region.

Northern Europe and Western Europe have the highest Internet connectivity rate of over 90 per cent, while Central Africa has the lowest rate of only twelve per cent.

Overall, more than four million, well over half of the world’s population, is now online, with the latest data showing that nearly a quarter of a billion new users came online for the first time in 2017. Africa has seen the fastest growth rates, with the number of Internet users across the continent increasing by more than 20 per cent year-on-year.

Likewise, more than three billion people around the world now use social media each month, with nine in ten of those users accessing their chosen platforms via mobile devices.