Hong Kong leads as world’s most “connected” population in 2016

Hongkongers sure love keeping in touch.

Hong Kong maintains its status as the world’s most connected population again in 2016, according to the new GfK Connected Consumer Index.

According to a release from GfK, Singapore and Australia trail at second and third placing in the Asia Pacific region and 13th and 17th respectively on a global level.

Except for Vietnam which managed to climb two spots—from 61 last year to 59 this year, all other markets either maintained or fell in ranking. Most significantly, Japan descended by 10 spots to 30th ranking globally; falling below Taiwan this year. South Korea also dropped to 38 from 31.

The new GfK Connected Consumer Index is a ranking of 78 countries and eight world regions that provides fast and direct comparison of how highly connected each population is.

Here’s more from GfK:

The index shows which countries have the world’s most connected consumers, both overall and in detail across each of eleven different device types (smartphone, tablet, mobile PC, desktop PC, wearables, smart TV, TV set-top box, videogame console, e-reader, connected car and smart home), together with trends over the last five years.

It allows businesses to compare how connected the individual countries and regions are, in order to spot market opportunities across a range of industries. This includes areas stretching from digiital device sales and content consumption to expansion of traditional technology into health and media and beyond.

“In the emerging APAC region, the high level of smartphone adoption has been the key driver propelling connectivity in the countries, as this is the primary device—and often the first device—for consumers to connect to data services,” commented Stanley Kee, Managing Director for Southeast Asia at GfK.

“This trend is likely to remain dominant for the next two to three years as pricing reductions means smartphones will become even more affordabe and within reach of increasing number of consumers who will be able to own and connect with a personal device for the first time,” he added.

“As for the developed markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the growth drivers have already moved to the next wave of consumer connectivity—wearables are now the ‘in-thing’, together with connected cars and both these are providing new consumer benefits. Smart home technology is an equally significant opportunity, but expected to be slower and steadier in terms of the consumer adoption curve.”

Kee concluded, “As technology continues to evolve and mature at their own pace in individual markets, we are increasingly seeing that local country drivers are having a relatively bigger impact on growth, as opposed to global or regional trends – with consumers connecting in ever bigger numbers and different ways.”