PHL home internet penetration rate at 56.1% of households

THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said 56.1% of the country’s 26.37 million households can access the internet at home.

Citing the findings of its 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH), the PSA said about 42.1% of households connect via mobile broadband networks. On the lower end of the access scale, satellite broadband posted a 2.4% penetration rate.

The National Capital Region (NCR) had a penetration rate of 74.6%, significantly higher than the national average.

Penetration in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region was 70.2%, and in the Cordillera Administrative region 62.8%.

Zamboanga Peninsula had the lowest share of households with internet access at 28.5%.

By number of households with access, Calabarzon accounted for 19.3% of the national total, followed by the NCR with 17.6% and Central Luzon with 12.8%. The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) brought up the rear with 1.7%.

In 2020, the PSA said 56.3% of households use the internet at home, while users who access it via mobile devices while outside the home accounted for 23.1%. The share of users who use the internet at their workplace was 19.7%.

The PSA conducted the 2020 CPH in September 2020 with May 1, 2020, as the reference date.

The CPH’s other findings included a 97% literacy rate for people five years and older, equivalent to 94.63 million who can read or write.

This reflected an improvement over the 2015 census findings, which returned a literacy rate of 95.8%, the PSA said.

The criteria for literacy in the census is defined as the ability to read and write simple messages in any language or dialect.

Metro Manila posted a literacy rate of 98.9%, followed by the Ilocos region with 98.6% and Calabarzon 98.5%. BARMM had the lowest literacy rate at 86.4%.

In 2020, the female literacy rate was 97.1%, while that for males was 96.8%.

Educational attainment statistics included a secondary school completion rate of 38.6% for those five years or older. The elementary-only completion rate was 29.5% and that for college was 23.4%. — Abigail Marie Pelea Yraola