Realising a Confident Digital Society: Spotlight on Southeast Asia
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Publication Type:
Publisher:
Tech for Good Institute
Publication:
December 2025
This report examines the concept of a confident digital society and offers policy recommendations to advance sustainable and empowered digital societies.
Southeast Asia sustains its digital momentum, generating $300 billion in gross merchandise value in 2025 and maintaining growth at 15% year over year. Beyond economic value, digitalization is emerging as a vehicle for generating tangible social impact, though hampered by an increasingly complex landscape of online risks and harms in the region.
This report defines and conceptualizes a framework for a confident digital society that enables sustainable digital development. It proposes metrics for each pillar and sub-pillar of the framework, collected primarily from publicly available sources.
The report focuses on Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam, while also examining Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, and the Lao People's Democratic Republic to contextualize the overall regional performance. The report aims to provide a baseline understanding of where ASEAN members states stand in terms of having the components for fostering a confident digital society that can sustain and facilitate long-term, positive digital development.
Contents
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Confident Digital Society in SEA
- Recommendations
- Afterword
- Appendix: Country Profiles
- References
