Internet use remains higher among Filipino women — SWS

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino women still spend more time on the internet than men, a first quarter Social Weather Stations survey showed.

The survey, conducted from March 28 to 31, found that a record-high 50% of adult Filipino women are internet users. The figure is statistically similar to the 49% recorded in the last quarter of 2018.

This is against the 41% of Filipino men who use the internet in the first quarter of this year.

“Since December 2015, the proportion of adults who use the internet has been slightly higher among women than among men,” SWS observed.

Nearly half of adult Filipinos or 46% use the internet—statistically similar to the record-high 47% in December 2018.

“Starting December 2015, the percentage of adults who use the internet stayed within the 30’s range, or better. Beginning 2018, it rose and stayed within the 40s range,” the polling firm noted.

Young Filipinos dominate the internet

The March 2019 survey showed that internet use in the country is consistently higher among the younger and more educated population.

Internet use is highest among 18-to-24 year olds at 86%, followed by 25-to-34-year-olds at 71%, 33-to-44-year-olds at 55%, 45-to-54-year-olds at 30% and 55-year-olds and above at 14%.

Those who are college graduates also spend the most time online at 79%. They are followed by high school graduates at 58%, elementary graduates at 33% and non-elementary graduates at 11%.

Internet use in Metro Manila remained the highest among geographic areas at 64%. It was followed by Balance Luzon at 48%, Mindanao at 39% and Visayas at 35%.

There were 1,440 adult respondents—with an equal number of men and women—nationwide in the March survey.

It has sampling error margins of ±2.6% for national percentages, and ±5% each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. — Gaea Katreena Cabico