Netizens in China ranked highest globally for wanting to be reachable at all times, with 56 per cent of the country’s connected population strongly agreeing that it’s important to be reachable wherever they are.

Only 3 per cent of connected users in China strongly disagreed with that statement, according to a survey by GfK.

Of the five markets surveyed in Asia Pacific, South Korea ranked second, with 31 per cent of respondents who are connected firmly agreeing that it’s important to be always reachable. Just 2 per cent firmly disagreed.

In contrast, just 18 per cent of Japanese connected consumers exhibit a strong “always reachable” mindset — the lowest in APAC and second lowest of all countries surveyed.

Less than a third of APAC consumers (in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea) said it was important to always be reachable, and only 8 per cent firmly disagreed, the survey found. Across all 22 countries surveyed, 42 per cent shared the same sentiment, while 11 per cent held the opposite view.

Broken down by age group, the percentage was fairly consistent for most segments – 43 per cent of teenagers wanted to be always reachable, 45 per cent of those in their 20s, 47 per cent of those in their 30s and 42 per cent of 40-year-olds. But the percentage dropped to 33 per cent for people in their 50s and 29 per cent for those over 60, GfK said.

Looking at the difference between genders, women were slightly more likely than men to want to always be reachable (43 per cent vs 40 per cent).