71 percent of Canadian adults owned a smartphone in 2017: Pew Research Center

Seventy-one percent of Canadian adults owned a smartphone in 2017, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. This is slightly down from the 72 percent ownership reported in 2016, but up from the 67 percent noted in 2015.

In comparison, the United States demonstrated 77 percent adult ownership of smartphones in 2017 (up five percent from 2016), while the United Kingdom marked 72 percent in both 2016 and 2017.

Out of 39 countries surveyed, the Pew Research Center found that median smartphone ownership sat at 59 percent, with particularly low numbers in countries such as Nigeria (32 percent), Indonesia (27 percent) and India (22 percent).

The Pew Research Center’s survey also looked at social media and general internet usage among countries. Most notably, Canada demonstrated some of the highest numbers in these categories.

According to Pew, 91 percent of Canadian adults used the internet in 2016 and 2017. Meanwhile, 89 percent of American adults used the internet in 2017 (up one percent from 2016) and 88 percent of UK adults used the internet in 2017 (down one percent from the year prior).

In fact, of the 39 surveyed countries, only adults in Sweden (92 percent), the Netherlands (93 percent), Australia (93 percent) and South Korea (96 percent) demonstrated higher internet usage than Canadian adults.

In terms of social media, Canadian adults were also among the top users in the survey, coming in at 68 percent in 2017 (three percent higher than 2016). Only adults in the United States (69 percent), Australia (69 percent), South Korea (69 percent), Lebanon (72 percent) and Jordan (75 percent) were reported to use social media more than Canadian adults in 2017.

The Pew Research Center conducted the survey from January 3rd to 10th, 2018.

The full survey can be viewed here.