Despite surging smartphone sales and an increasing obsession with Facebook, Cambodia continues to lag behind its regional neighbors in terms of Internet and social media use, according to a new report.
“Digital in South Asia in 2015,” published online Tuesday by the consultancy We Are Social, shows that while Cambodia has more than 1 1/2 mobile connections per person, the country’s mostly rural population of 15 million is actually one of the least-connected in the region.
Thirty-two percent of people in Cambodia are connected to the Internet, according to the report, compared to an average of 40 percent for Southeast Asian nations and 84 percent in Singapore, the highest in the region.
Only Laos (14 percent), Burma (9 percent) and Timor-Leste (1 percent) were ranked below Cambodia.
And just 22 percent of Cambodians use major social networks such as Facebook, again beating out Laos and Burma (both 14 percent), but straggling behind the regional average (37 percent).
Likewise, 19 percent of Cambodians use social networks via mobile devices, well below the average in Southeast Asia (32 percent).
Overall, Internet and social media use in Southeast Asia is experiencing 15 percent year-on-year growth and “shows no sign of slowing,” according to the report’s author, Simon Kemp.
