How does the Middle East compare to the rest of the world when it comes to digital, mobile, social media and e-commerce?
A new 107 page report from We Are Social and Hootsuite provides a global overview based on figures for 2016.
Overview
As we will see later in this article, countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar lead the world when it comes to mobile and social media, but the aggregate for the whole of the Middle East shows that the region lags behind the UK, USA and parts of S.E Asia when it comes to adoption of digital.
The United Arab Emirates leads the Internet Penetration Rankings with 99% of the population connected (9,2 million users). Bahrain comes in at number 9 on the same table with 93% penetration (1.3 million users)
The region is growing fast though. Social media users grew by 47% in 2016 (30 million people) and active mobile social users increased 44% (25 million users).
Social Media
The Middle East fares well in the Social Media Penetration table. Qatar tops the table with 99% (2.4 Million users). Second, also with 99% (9.2 Million users) is the UAE.
Saudi Arabia was the fastest growing Social Media market in the world in 2016. Social media grew 73% in the Kingdom. The UAE also grew rapidly in 2016 by 46%. The global average was 21%.
Users of social media in the Middle East are also mobile. 95% of Qatari social media users are mobile, putting it at the top of the list. The UAE is second in this table with mobile social media penetration reported at 88%.
The report also looks at Ecommerce and mobile commerce. Stay tuned for an insight into what those numbers reveal about the online shopping in the Middle East.
No Comments