The Pew Research
Center surveyed thousands of people across 32 emerging and
developing nations about their technology use and how the rising influence of
the internet affects their daily lives. But, Jacob Poushter writes, beyond the
larger findings, Pew found some notable data points about specific countries
that might have been lost in the fray.
The following are the Pew Research
Center’s findings:
1 Almost no one in Nigeria,
Ghana, Bangladesh and Uganda owns a landline telephone. Many
people worldwide are skipping the fixed telephone line that many Americans grew
up with, and this fact is most apparent in many emerging and developing
nations. Only 1% of the population in Nigeria, Ghana, Bangladesh and Uganda say
they own a working landline telephone in their household, while 89% in Nigeria,
83% in Ghana, 76% in Bangladesh and 65% in Uganda own cell phones. This
compares with 60% landline penetration in the U.S.
2 Chinese internet users
love to shop. About half of online Chinese (52%) have used the internet to
buy products in the past 12 months. Given the size of the online Chinese
marketplace, this goes a long way in explaining the meteoric rise of commerce
giants such as Alibaba and Baidu.
3 Filipinos love social networking. Among adult internet
users in the Philippines, 93% say that they use social networking sites, such
as Facebook and Twitter. This is the highest such percentage across the
emerging and developing countries surveyed and greater than the 74% of internet users
in the U.S. who use social networking sites. Roughly seven-in-ten of
those Filipino social networkers use these platforms to share views about music
and movies, while half talk about sports.
4 Indians and Bangladeshis use the
internet for job hunting. Very few people in India and Bangladesh use the internet --
only 20% and 11% respectively. But among those who do, job searching is a
popular activity. Majorities of internet users in Bangladesh (62%) and India
(55%) say they have looked for a job online in the past year, the highest rates
among the 31 countries surveyed that have enough internet users to analyze.
5 Young Thais are internet
enthusiasts. In every country we polled, younger people ages 18 to 34 are
substantially more likely to say they use the internet than those who are
older. Especially large differences occur in Asia, and particularly in
Thailand, where 83% of 18- to 34-year-olds are online, but only 27% of those 35
and older are.
6 Politics is a big social
media topic in Lebanon. Among Lebanese who use social
networks, an astounding three-quarters say they use the platform for discussing
politics. Similar levels of political participation occur among social network
users in Egypt (66%) and Jordan (63%). Across all the countries surveyed with
sufficient numbers, only a median of 34% say they talk politics using social
media, including 16% of Filipino and Vietnamese social networkers and 19% of
Indonesians.
7 Ukrainians get their
political news online. Overall, a median of 54% of internet users across emerging
and developing countries surveyed use the internet to get political news and
information. But in Ukraine that figure is much higher: Eight-in-ten internet
users do so. The survey was fielded after the ousting of President Viktor
Yanukovych from office in early 2014 and toward the beginning of the ongoing
conflict with Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, meaning many Ukrainians
followed those news events online. However, only 53% of Ukrainians have access
to the internet.
8 Nearly eight-in-ten
Russians own a computer. Due to the rise of smartphones, many people in emerging and
developing nations access the internet from a device other than a personal computer.
But about eight-in-ten Americans (80%) and Russians (78%) have a working
computer in their household. In contrast, only 3% in Uganda say they have a
computer in their home.
9 Venezuelans like taking
pictures and videos with their phones. Overall, Latin Americans
(just like in the U.S.) are quite keen on capturing the world around them, with
more than six-in-ten mobile owners in Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and
Nicaragua saying they have taken videos or pictures with their phones in the
past year. In Venezuela, this is particularly common: Three-quarters of cell
phone owners (who constitute 88% of the adult population) use their device
to take pictures or video.
10 Many Poles access medical
information online, especially women. More than six-in-ten
internet users in Poland (64%) say they have gotten health information online
in the past 12 months. This includes 72% of female internet users, but only 56%
of male users. Similar gender gaps are found in the
U.S., and also in Russia and Ukraine.
