Only 25% of Indian adults use Internet, 80% don't use social media: Pew Research

With only 25% of adults using Internet, India is one of the countries with the lowest usage in the world. At par with India is Tanzania. Both these countries are way below the global median of 75%, as a new survey by Pew Research Center reveals. South Korea bagged the top spot with whopping 96% adults reportedly using the Internet. The survey conducted across 37 countries show that India as well as sub-Saharan Africa have a lot of catching up to do in terms of Internet usage. The survey also showed that younger generations, between 18 to 36 years of age, are more likely to use Internet than people above 37 years. That's revealed to be a global trend. In India there's a 22 point difference between the two, with 35% of the younger generation using Internet over the adults' 13%. Moreover, there's a marked difference between the percentages of usage between more and less educated people. In India, that difference is of 42 points. 

As far as smartphone ownership goes, India again features at the end of the list, followed only by Tanzania. In India, only 22% adults own smartphones, with 51% owning feature phones. A staggering 26% of Indian adults do not own any phone at all. The list is yet again topped by South Korea, with everyone owning phones. A commendable 94% South Korean adults own smartphones, while only 6% own feature phones. The global median that takes into account smartphone ownership across developed and developing nations say that 59% adults own smartphones, 31% feature phones and only 8% people have no phone at all. However, smartphone ownership in India actually went up significantly from 12% in 2013.

The report further sheds light on the gender gap in smartphone ownership. "Gender is a less common divide in smartphone ownership, but still exists in 13 of the countries surveyed. Men are at least 10 percentage points more likely than women to own smartphones in India, Mexico, Ghana, Kenya, Chile and Hungary. Notably, Lebanese women are more likely than men to own a smartphone, while men are more likely than women to own a basic mobile phone," it says.

While there's a new winner in the list of usage of social networking sites, India still retains the second-last spot on the list, followed yet again by Tanzania. Only 20% of Indian adults use social networking sites, meaning that a whopping 80% do not. The list is topped by Jordan where 75% adults use social networking sites. India, again, is way below the global median of 53%.

The Pew report mentions that the use of social media by adults is on the rise in many countries, including India. In 2014, only 14% of Indian adults used social media that has seen a significant increase since then.  Furthermore, young adults are more likely to use social media than their older counterparts. This, again, appears to be a global trend. In India 28% young adults use social media, while only 10% of the older generation have their presence on the same.

While all that seem reconcilable, there's also gender gap in the usage of social media across the world. In developing countries, more men than women use social media, while in developed countries more women than men use social media. In India, 28% men use social media, while only 11% women use social media taking the difference to 17 points.