Vietnamese spend more time on internet, social media than Asian peers: report

Vietnamese spend an average six hours and 47 minutes each day on the Internet, slightly lower than the global average for internet usage of six hours and 54 minutes, according to Canada-based research firm Hootsuite and British-headquartered equivalent We Are Social.

Internet usage in South Korea was five hours and 37 minutes, followed by China at five hours and 22 minutes. Japan remains the country with the least time spent on the internet at only four hours and 25 minutes.

The report also revealed Vietnamese also spend an average of two hours and 21 minutes on social media, higher than Singaporeans (two hours and 17 minutes), Chinese (two hours and four minutes), South Koreans (one hour and eight minutes) and Japanese (51 minutes).

The average time spent on social networks worldwide is only two hours and 25 minutes.

For the sixth straight year, the Philippines remains as the top country worldwide whose citizens spend the most time on both the internet with 10 hours and 56 minutes and social media with 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Nearly 63 percent of Vietnamese internet users visit social networks to research brands while 56 percent use social media for work purposes.

Vietnam had 68 million Facebook users in 2020, up 4.6 percent from a year prior, placing it seventh worldwide.

Ho Chi Minh City was also named among the top 10 cities globally with the most Facebookers, with 11 million users.

The report also noted Vietnam's average mobile internet connection speeds lagged behind other Asian economies, at only 34.51 megabits per second.

Vietnam currently has six submarine cable systems, plus a 120 gigabit channel that runs overland through China. Frequent undersea cable ruptures have given Vietnam a reputation for unstable internet connectivity.