40 million new digital users in Southeast Asia in 2020

A recent report published by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Company found that an estimated 40 million people from six countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand) across Southeast Asia came online for the first time in 2020. The report emphasises that this development has increased the number of internet users to nearly 400 million which represents roughly 70% of the region’s population. The report also highlights that the e-commerce sector has experienced a growth of 63% over the course of 2020. According to the report, digital payments are also expected to increase to $620 billion in 2020 from $600 billion that they represented in 2019. Estimates show that the value of digital payments will reach $1.2 trillion by 2025.

In addition to the growth of the digital financial services, the use of online health and educational services has also seen a rise with many people shifting to online health consultations and remote learning.