Digital ecomony in SEA looks gooooood!

The World Bank has released a report on the digital economy in Southeast Asia. The report is based on data from the World Bank and from World Bank Enterprise Surveys as well as data from other sources including ASEAN, the OECD, and the private sector.

Below the snapshot of the Killer Facts based on the report:

• The number of Internet users in ASEAN member countries tripled from 127 million in 2011 to 390 million by end-2017.

• The number of monthly active users accessing social platforms via mobile devices went up 34% from 2016 to 2017.

• About three quarters of users in Thailand and Vietnam utilise Facebook social media and messaging for commercial purposes – 74% of Thai users and 73% of Vietnamese users are actively connecting with businesses.

• Southeast Asian users spent twice as much time as Americans, 140 minutes versus 80 minutes respectively, browsing top e-commerce sites in 2017.

• In Indonesia, 49% of the population had an account at a financial institution in 2017, up from 36% in 2014.

• Cash-on-delivery vs online payment) a) Singapore: COD - 10%; Online – 90% b) Thailand: COD – 48%; Online – 51% c) Malaysia: COD – 51%; Online – 49% d) Vietnam: COD – 90%; Online – 10%

• Digital payments are expected to grow in Malaysia by 20.2% CAGR from 2017 to 2021.

• Indonesia is not far behind with 18.4% expected growth from 2017 to 2021. Indonesia is also expected to have the highest digital payments transaction value of US$37 billion in 2021.

Full report available here.