MANILA - Only a third of Filipinos can access the Internet, according to the 2014 edition of the State of Broadband report released by the United Nations.

Data showed that around 37 percent of the Philippine population had access to the Internet in 2013. This ranked the country 106th out of 191 economies where data is available in the report.

The world average is slightly higher than that of the Philippines at 37.9 percent, and higher than the developing-country average at 29.9 percent.

“The State of Broadband is a unique global snapshot of broadband-network access and affordability, with country-by-country data measuring broadband access against key advocacy targets set by the 54 members of the Broadband Commission,” the UN said.

Further, around 22.9 percent of Philippine households have Internet. This ranked the country 57th out of 132 economies where data is available.

Compared to other Asean countries, the Philippines had one of the highest household Internet penetration rates. The country was third only to Singapore and Malaysia.

Data showed Singapore, which ranked third worldwide, had a household Internet penetration rate of 86 percent last year. Malaysia, which ranked 17th globally, was at 64.7 percent in 2013.

In terms of broadband access, the report stated that for every 100 Filipinos, only 2.6 have access to fixed or wired broadband connection.

This ranked the Philippines 110th out of 190 economies with data available for 2013. The world average is 9.4 out of 100 inhabitants last year.

In terms of mobile broadband access, more Filipinos, or around 20.3 per 100 inhabitants, have access to mobile broadband connection.

This placed the country 79th out of 138 economies that have data available for 2013. The country ranked third in Asean.

In the region, Singapore remained the most advanced in fixed and mobile broadband access, as well as in household and population Internet access.

The laggards in the region in these respects were Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. However, no data were available for Indonesia and Vietnam in terms of mobile broadband access in 2013.

“Released on Monday in New York at the 10th meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, the report reveals that more than 40 percent of the world’s people are already online, with the number of Internet users rising from 2.3 billion in 2013 to 2.9 billion by the end of this year,” the UN said.

The report stated that over 50 percent of the global population will have Internet access within three years’ time, with mobile broadband over smartphones and tablets now the fastest-growing technology in human history.

Over 2.3 billion people will access mobile broadband by the end of 2014, climbing steeply to a predicted 7.6 billion within the next five years.

The report also stated that there are now over three times as many mobile broadband connections as there are conventional fixed broadband subscriptions.

The popularity of broadband-enabled social-media applications continues to soar, with 1.9 billion people now active on social networks.