Contents
- Laptop ownership statistics: household ownership and access rates
- Laptop ownership statistics: household access trends over time
- Laptop availability by household income in Singapore
- Laptop availability by dwelling type
- Malaysia laptop ownership by settlement type
- How to interpret laptop ownership statistics
- Sources
Laptop ownership statistics: household ownership and access rates
Recent official figures offer reference points across four places, but they are not directly comparable. They cover different years and household populations, and some measure ownership while others measure access or use a conditional denominator.
Serbia’s Statistical Office reported that 50.7% of households owned a laptop in 2026. The reported scope excludes AP Kosovo and Metohija. Malaysia’s 2024 Basic Amenities Survey found laptop ownership in 57.6% of households of Malaysian citizens. Singapore’s annual computing-device series reported that 80.73% of households had access to a laptop or notebook in 2024. Access does not establish that the household owns the device, so these figures should not be read as a country ranking.
Macao’s 2024 report counted 95.0 thousand households with laptops. Its 62.3% penetration figure uses a different denominator: households that had a personal computer. It therefore does not mean that 62.3% of all Macao households had a laptop.
Sources: Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Usage ICT – households; Department of Statistics Malaysia, Basic Amenities Survey Report, Malaysia, 2024; Singapore data.gov.sg, Household Access To Computing Devices By Devices, Annual; Macao Statistics and Census Service, Survey on Information Technology Usage in the Household Sector 2024.
Laptop ownership statistics: household access trends over time
Singapore’s annual series records household access to laptops or notebooks from 2017 through 2024. Access was 76.03% in 2017, 76.93% in 2018, and 76.77% in 2019. It then reached 79.45% in 2020 and 88.72% in 2021, before falling to 81.49% in 2022. The series recorded 82.4% in 2023 and 80.73% in 2024.
The 2021 observation is the high point in this period. The three later readings are lower and fluctuate rather than move steadily in one direction. The 2024 level remains above the 2017–19 readings. These data show reported household access; they do not measure the number of laptops, individual ownership, or frequency of use, and they do not explain why the annual values changed. The dataset covers January 2017 to December 2024 and was last updated on 30 May 2025.
Malaysia provides a separate comparison based on ownership. Among households of Malaysian citizens, the reported rate rose from 53.1% in 2022 to 57.6% in 2024, an increase of 4.5 percentage points. This change is meaningful within that survey’s population and measure; it should not be merged with Singapore’s access series as if they were the same indicator.
Sources: Singapore data.gov.sg, Household Access To Computing Devices By Devices, Annual; Department of Statistics Malaysia, Basic Amenities Survey Report, Malaysia, 2024, Exhibit 9.
Laptop availability by household income in Singapore
Singapore’s 2023 Household Expenditure Survey reports laptop availability among resident households grouped into income fifths. The ranking is based on monthly household income per household member. Laptop availability was higher in each successively higher income group, ranging from 47.8% in the bottom fifth to 88.2% in the top fifth.
| Income percentile group | 2012/13 | 2017/18 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st–20th | 41.7% | 44.5% | 47.8% |
| 21st–40th | 65.0% | 63.6% | 64.1% |
| 41st–60th | 76.7% | 73.7% | 75.5% |
| 61st–80th | 83.1% | 79.4% | 82.9% |
| 81st–100th | 86.3% | 84.4% | 88.2% |
In 2023 the difference between the top and bottom fifths was 40.4 percentage points. The bottom fifth’s availability reading was higher than in either earlier survey period. In the other four groups, the 2023 result was above the 2017/18 result but below the 2012/13 figure for the second and middle fifths; the upper two fifths were below 2012/13 as well. These are descriptive differences among resident households. They do not show that income caused a particular household’s laptop availability or establish individual ownership.
Source: Singapore Department of Statistics, Report on the Household Expenditure Survey 2023, Chart 5.16.
Laptop availability by dwelling type
The same Singapore report breaks out laptop availability by dwelling category among resident households. In 2023, the rate ranged from 18.9% for households in HDB 1- and 2-room flats to 87.0% for households in condominiums and other apartments. The 1- and 2-room category includes HDB Studio Apartments.
| Dwelling type | Laptop availability, 2023 |
|---|---|
| HDB 1- and 2-room flats, including Studio Apartments | 18.9% |
| HDB 3-room flats | 50.0% |
| HDB 4-room flats | 73.4% |
| HDB 5-room and executive flats | 82.6% |
| Condominiums and other apartments | 87.0% |
| Landed properties | 85.1% |
| All HDB flats | 67.1% |
The report’s aggregate for all HDB flats was 67.2% in 2012/13, 65.1% in 2017/18, and 67.1% in 2023. This broad category changed less across those survey periods than the gap between the smallest HDB flat category and the apartment category in 2023. The figures describe groups of households; they do not identify why availability differs or what any individual household owns.
Source: Singapore Department of Statistics, Report on the Household Expenditure Survey 2023, Chart 5.17.
Malaysia laptop ownership by settlement type
Malaysia’s 2024 Basic Amenities Survey shows a marked urban–rural difference among households of Malaysian citizens. Laptop ownership was 64.8% for urban households and 32.3% for rural households in 2024. The national figure was 57.6%.
| Household location | 2022 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Urban | 59.8% | 64.8% |
| Rural | 29.4% | 32.3% |
| Malaysia | 53.1% | 57.6% |
All three reported rates increased between 2022 and 2024. The urban–rural gap widened from 30.4 percentage points in 2022 (59.8 minus 29.4) to 32.5 points in 2024 (64.8 minus 32.3), a 2.1-point increase. These percentages concern households of Malaysian citizens and describe settlement categories in the survey; they do not establish the reasons behind the difference.
Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia, Basic Amenities Survey Report, Malaysia, 2024, Exhibit 9.
How to interpret laptop ownership statistics
Household laptop figures can represent different things: ownership, access to a laptop or notebook, or the share of households with a personal computer that also have a laptop. The distinction affects what a percentage can tell readers. Access does not necessarily mean ownership, and Macao’s 62.3% figure applies only to households already counted as having a personal computer.
The populations also differ. The Serbian figure excludes AP Kosovo and Metohija; Malaysia’s figures cover households of Malaysian citizens; Singapore’s income and dwelling breakdowns refer to resident households; and Macao reports both a household count and a rate conditional on computer ownership. The measures span different survey years and designs, rather than one synchronized international census.
Read each percentage with its geography, year, household population, and denominator attached. Within those limits, the figures show variation by income group, dwelling category, and settlement type, as well as changes over time within some national series.