The number of internet users in Indonesia increased by 10 percent last year, according to a recent study by Polling Indonesia conducted in cooperation with the Indonesian Internet Providers Association (APJII). 

The study shows that 171 million people, or 64.8 percent of the total population of 264 million Indonesians, were already connected to the internet in 2018. The figure represents an increase from 54.86 percent recorded in 2017. 

APJII secretary general Henri Kasyfi said the survey ran from March to April of this year, involving 5,900 samples across the country. 

“The number of internet users in the country has increased every year,” Henri said as quoted Kompas.com.

He added that because the majority of the country’s internet users were aged 15 to 19, the government needed to keep a closer watch on content distributed through the internet. 

He went on to say that Java continues to have the largest number of internet users as the region had the highest internet penetration level of 55 percent. Furthermore, he added that Sumatra was the second-biggest contributor with an internet penetration level of 21 percent.

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According to the study, West Java accounts for the largest number of internet users in Java with 16 percent, while North Sumatra is home to the most internet users in Sumatra with 6.3 percent. 

Despite the overall increase of netizens across the country, Henri said around 38.4 percent of people living in rural areas did not have internet access.

“We expect our recent study to serve as an evaluation for internet service providers in rural regions,” he said. (rfa/kes)