As of February 2025, there were 5.56 billion internet users worldwide, which amounted to 67.9 percent of the global population. Of this total, 5.24 billion, or 63.9 percent of the world's population, were social media users. Global internet usage Connecting billions of people worldwide, the internet is a core pillar of the modern information society. Northern Europe ranked first among worldwide regions by the share of the population using the internet in 2024. In The Netherlands, Norway and Saudi Arabia, 99 percent of the population used the internet as of April 2024. North Korea was at the opposite end of the spectrum, with virtually no internet usage penetration among the general population, ranking last worldwide. Asia was home to the largest number of online users worldwide – over 2.93 billion at the latest count. Europe ranked second, with around 750 million internet users. China, India, and the United States rank ahead of other countries worldwide by the number of internet users. Worldwide internet user demographics As of 2023, the share of female internet users worldwide was 65 percent, five percent less than that of men. Gender disparity in internet usage was bigger in the Arab States and Africa, with around a ten percent difference. Worldwide regions, like the Commonwealth of Independent States and Europe, showed a smaller gender gap. As of 2023, global internet usage was higher among individuals between 15 and 24 years across all regions, with young people in Europe representing the most significant usage penetration, 98 percent. In comparison, the worldwide average for the age group 15–24 years was 79 percent. The income level of the countries was also an essential factor for internet access, as 93 percent of the population of the countries with high income reportedly used the internet, as opposed to only 27 percent of the low-income markets.

The global number of internet users in was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 1.3 billion users (+23.66 percent). After the fifteenth consecutive increasing year, the number of users is estimated to reach 7 billion users and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the number of internet users of was continuously increasing over the past years.Depicted is the estimated number of individuals in the country or region at hand, that use the internet. As the datasource clarifies, connection quality and usage frequency are distinct aspects, not taken into account here.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the number of internet users in countries like the Americas and Asia.

In January 2025 mobile devices excluding tablets accounted for over 62 percent of web page views worldwide. Meanwhile, over 75 percent of webpage views in Africa were generated via mobile. In contrast, just over half of web traffic in North America still took place via desktop connections with mobile only accounting for 51.1 percent of total web traffic. While regional infrastructure remains an important factor in broadband vs. mobile coverage, most of the world has had their eyes on the recent 5G rollout across the globe, spearheaded by tech-leaders China and the United States. The number of mobile 5G subscriptions worldwide is forecast to reach more than 8 billion by 2028. Social media: room for growth in Africa and southern Asia Overall, more than 92 percent of the world’s mobile internet subscribers are also active on social media. A fast-growing market, with newcomers such as TikTok taking the world by storm, marketers have been cashing in on social media’s reach. Overall, social media penetration is highest in Europe and America while in Africa and southern Asia, there is still room for growth. As of 2021, Facebook and Google-owned YouTube are the most popular social media platforms worldwide. Facebook and Instagram are most effective With nearly 3 billion users, it is no wonder that Facebook remains the social media avenue of choice for the majority of marketers across the world. Instagram, meanwhile, was the second most popular outlet. Both platforms are low-cost and support short-form content, known for its universal consumer appeal and answering to the most important benefits of using these kind of platforms for business and advertising purposes.

When asked about "Attitudes towards the internet", most Mexican respondents pick "It is important to me to have mobile internet access in any place at any time" as an answer. 55 percent did so in our online survey in 2024. Looking to gain valuable insights about users of internet providers worldwide? Check out our

When asked about "Attitudes towards the internet", most Chinese respondents pick "It is important to me to have mobile internet access in any place at any time" as an answer. 49 percent did so in our online survey in 2024. Looking to gain valuable insights about users of internet providers worldwide? Check out our

Mobile accounts for approximately half of web traffic worldwide. In the last quarter of 2024, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 62.54 percent of global website traffic. Mobiles and smartphones consistently hoovered around the 50 percent mark since the beginning of 2017, before surpassing it in 2020. Mobile traffic Due to low infrastructure and financial restraints, many emerging digital markets skipped the desktop internet phase entirely and moved straight onto mobile internet via smartphone and tablet devices. India is a prime example of a market with a significant mobile-first online population. Other countries with a significant share of mobile internet traffic include Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. In most African markets, mobile accounts for more than half of the web traffic. By contrast, mobile only makes up around 45.49 percent of online traffic in the United States. Mobile usage The most popular mobile internet activities worldwide include watching movies or videos online, e-mail usage and accessing social media. Apps are a very popular way to watch video on the go and the most-downloaded entertainment apps in the Apple App Store are Netflix, Tencent Video and Amazon Prime Video.

When asked about "Attitudes towards the internet", most Japanese respondents pick "I could no longer imagine my everyday life without the internet" as an answer. 56 percent did so in our online survey in 2024. Looking to gain valuable insights about users of internet providers worldwide? Check out our

The total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally is forecast to increase rapidly, reaching 149 zettabytes in 2024. Over the next five years up to 2028, global data creation is projected to grow to more than 394 zettabytes. In 2020, the amount of data created and replicated reached a new high. The growth was higher than previously expected, caused by the increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people worked and learned from home and used home entertainment options more often. Storage capacity also growing Only a small percentage of this newly created data is kept though, as just two percent of the data produced and consumed in 2020 was saved and retained into 2021. In line with the strong growth of the data volume, the installed base of storage capacity is forecast to increase, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 19.2 percent over the forecast period from 2020 to 2025. In 2020, the installed base of storage capacity reached 6.7 zettabytes.

When asked about "Attitudes towards the internet", most Australian respondents pick "It is important to me to have mobile internet access in any place at any time" as an answer. 53 percent did so in our online survey in 2024. Looking to gain valuable insights about users of internet providers worldwide? Check out our

The population share with mobile internet access in North America was forecast to increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 2.9 percentage points. This overall increase does not happen continuously, notably not in 2028 and 2029. The mobile internet penetration is estimated to amount to 84.21 percent in 2029. Notably, the population share with mobile internet access of was continuously increasing over the past years.The penetration rate refers to the share of the total population having access to the internet via a mobile broadband connection.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the population share with mobile internet access in countries like Caribbean and Europe.

As of January 2025, online search engine Bing accounted for 12.23 percent of the global desktop search market, while market leader Google had a share of around 78.83 percent. Meanwhile, Yahoo's market share was 3.07 percent. Google in the global market Ever since the introduction of Google Search in 1997, the company has dominated the search engine market, while the shares of all other tools has been rather lopsided. The majority of Google revenues are generated through advertising. Its parent corporation, Alphabet, was one of the biggest internet companies worldwide as of 2023, with a market capitalization of 1,6 trillion U.S. dollars. The company has also expanded its services to mail, productivity tools, enterprise products, mobile devices, and other ventures. As a result, Google earned one of the highest tech company revenues in 2023 with roughly 305.6 billion U.S. dollars. Search engine usage in different countries Google is the most frequently used search engine worldwide. But in some countries, its’ alternatives are leading or competing with it to some extent. As of the last quarter of 2023, more than 63 percent of internet users in Russia used Yandex, whereas Google users were nearly 36 percent. Meanwhile, Baidu was the most used search engine in China, despite a strong percentage decrease of internet users in the country accessing it. In other countries, like Japan and Mexico, people tend to use Yahoo along with Google. In the first quarter of 2022 nearly 56 percent of the respondents in Japan said that they had used Yahoo in the past four weeks. In the same year, over 27 percent of users in Mexico said they used Yahoo. Another search engine, Bing, operated by Microsoft, was the second most popular search engine in the United Kingdom after Google.

In 2023, most of the global website traffic was still generated by humans but bot traffic is constantly growing. Fraudulent traffic through bad bot actors accounted for 32 percent of global web traffic in the most recently measured period, representing an increase of 1.8 percent from the previous year. Sophistication of Bad Bots on the rise The complexity of malicious bot activity has dramatically increased in recent years. Advanced bad bots have doubled in prevalence over the past two years, indicating a surge in the sophistication of cyber threats. Simultaneously, simple bad bots saw a 6 percent increase compared to the previous year, suggesting a shift in the landscape of automated threats. Meanwhile, areas like entertainment, and law & government face the highest amount of advanced bad bots, with more than 78 percent of their bot traffic affected by evasive applications. Good and bad bots across industries The impact of bot traffic varies across different sectors. Bad bots accounted for over 57.2 percent of the gaming segment's web traffic. Meanwhile, almost half of the online traffic for telecom and ISPs was moved by malicious applications. However, not all bot traffic is considered bad. Some of these applications help index websites for search engines or monitor website performance, assisting users throughout their online search. Therefore, areas like entertainment, food and groceries, and financial services experienced notable levels of good bot traffic, demonstrating the diverse applications of benign automated systems across different sectors.

The number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices worldwide is forecast to almost double from 15.9 billion in 2023 to more than 32.1 billion IoT devices in 2030. In 2033, the highest number of IoT devices will be found in China, with around 8 billion consumer devices. IoT devices are used in all types of industry verticals and consumer markets, with the consumer segment accounting for around 60 percent of all IoT or connected devices in 2023. This share is projected to stay at this level over the next ten years. Major verticals and use cases Major industry verticals with currently more than 100 million connected IoT devices are electricity, gas, steam & A/C, water supply & waste management, retail & wholesale, transportation & storage, and government. Overall, the number of IoT devices across all industry verticals is forecast to grow to more than eight billion by 2033. Major use-cases The most important use case for IoT devices in the consumer segment are consumer internet & media devices such as smartphones, where the number of IoT devices is forecast to grow to more than 17 billion by 2033. Other use cases with more than one billion IoT devices by 2033 are connected (autonomous) vehicles, IT infrastructure, asset tracking & monitoring, and smart grid.

Switzerland is leading the ranking by population share with mobile internet access , recording 95.06 percent. Following closely behind is Ukraine with 95.06 percent, while Moldova is trailing the ranking with 46.83 percent, resulting in a difference of 48.23 percentage points to the ranking leader, Switzerland. The penetration rate refers to the share of the total population having access to the internet via a mobile broadband connection.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

As of February 2024, over a third of online users worldwide were aged between 25 and 34 years. Website visitors in this age bracket constituted the biggest group of online users worldwide. Also, 19 percent of global online users were aged 18 to 24 years. The global digital population aged 65 or older represented approximately 4.2 percent of all internet users worldwide. Social media usage and Meta Social media is a major driver of internet use, with a global penetration rate of 62.2 percent. On average, internet users spend 143 minutes per day on social media, highlighting its significant impact on daily online activities. The usage of social media is mostly dominated by Meta platforms, which own four of the largest social media platforms. Facebook leads the ranking with over three billion active users, followed by Instagram and WhatsApp. Instagram's global popularity Meta’s social video platform, Instagram, had long been one of the most engaging social media platforms worldwide, and it was projected to reach 1.44 billion monthly active users. Instagram was particularly favored by users aged 18 to 34, thanks to its ability to offer a variety of interactive content, from images and carousels. This diverse range of content types was a key factor in its popularity among its young user base.

As of the last quarter of 2023, 31.57 percent of web traffic in the United States originated from mobile devices, down from 49.51 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022. In comparison, over half of web traffic worldwide was generated via mobile in the last examined period.

As of August 2024, the Google Chrome browser accounted for over 65 percent of the global market for internet browsers. Apple’s Safari browser was the second most popular internet browser around the world, accounting for about 18.6 percent of market share. Apart from these two, no other browser controlled more than five percent of the overall market share. Internet use With billions of people around the world having some form of access to the technology, around half of the world’s population can be classified as internet users. In countries like Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany, a big majority of citizens access the internet on a daily basis, whether it be for work or personal entertainment. In the United States, the average adult spends hours per day online, once again showing the large importance of internet in peoples’ daily lives. Web browsers Web browsers serve as the platform through which users from across the globe access the contents of the internet. With the help of a web browser, users can access a huge variety of content including entertainment sites, social media, and online shopping retailers. In recent years, social media sites such as Facebook have become some of the most popular sites, with users determined to keep up-to-date with the digital presence of their friends, families, and favorite celebrities.

As of the third quarter of 2024, around 98 percent of global users accessed the internet via mobile phones, while 97.8 percent reported doing so via smartphones. By comparison, internet access via laptop or desktop computer was reported by almost 58.3 percent of respondents. Additionally, smart wrists were common among 31 percent of the respondents. Online video consumption In 2023, texting and watching online videos were among the most popular activities for smartphone users worldwide. By the first quarter of 2024, 92 percent of internet users globally were watching online videos monthly. TikTok is a prime example of this trend, as it became the platform where U.S. adults spent more daily time than on any other social media app as of June 2023. Gaming and live-streaming Video game streaming has become a leading trend in watched video content, accounting for 22 percent of online reach by the fourth quarter of 2024. This growth is driven mostly by the shift from single player to multiplayer gaming. For example, the multiplayer game Grand Theft Auto V was the most-watched game, with over 168 million monthly watch hours across live-streaming platforms in June 2024. On Twitch alone, gamers watched over 3.3 billion hours of live-streamed content in the first quarter of 2024.

As of January 2024, Nigeria had more than 103 million internet users - the highest number reported all over Africa. Meanwhile, Egypt ranked second with over 82 million users. The majority of web traffic in leading digital markets in Africa originated from mobile devices - in Nigeria, one of the countries with the largest number of internet users worldwide, 86.2 percent of web traffic was generated via smartphones and roughly 13.3 percent via PC devices. This is due in part to the fact that mobile connections are much cheaper and do not require the infrastructure that is needed for traditional desktop PCs with fixed-line internet connections.

Anticipating remarkable growth: Africa's internet user surge and projected milestones The projected trend for Africa indicates a consistent rise in internet users from 2024 to 2029. It will have a collective addition of 337.3 million users (equivalent to a growth of 51.79 percent). Following fifteen successive years of growth, the user count is anticipated to reach a record high of 1.1 billion by 2029. Furthermore, the online penetration rate on the continent was 43 percent – which was below the global average, measured at around 68 percent.

Unveiling internet trends The region has witnessed a steady increase in internet users over the years. In January 2024, Southern Africa stood out as the African region with the most substantial internet penetration rate, reaching approximately 73.1 percent. The proportion of individuals accessing the internet in this part of Africa and Northern Africa surpassed the global average (66.2 percent). Moreover, Morocco boasted an impressive internet penetration of about 91 percent, securing its position as Africa's foremost country. Libya held the second position with a penetration rate of approximately 88 percent, followed closely by Seychelles at around 86.7 percent.

With the internet becoming increasingly accessible, the number of e-mails sent and received globally has increased each year since 2017. In 2022, there were an estimated 333 billion e-mails sent and received daily around the world. This figure is projected to increase to 392.5 billion daily e-mails by 2026.

E-Mail marketing Despite the increasing popularity of messengers, chat apps and social media, e-mail has managed to remain central to digital communication and continues to grow in uptake. By 2025, the number of global e-mail users is expected to reach a total of 4.6 billion - an approximate six hundred thousand increase in users, up from 4 billion in 2020. Not only that, when it comes to online advertising e-mail has seen higher click-through-rates than on social media. In Belgium and Germany, these were 5.5 and 4.3 percent respectively - compared to the 1.3 percent global average CTR for social media during the same time period.

Gmail Launched in April 2004, Google’s Gmail has earned its spot as one of the most popular freemail services in the world. According to a 2019 survey, its popularity worldwide was trumped only by Apple’s native iPhone Mail app with 26 percent of all e-mail opens worldwide taking place on the platform. Millennials surveyed in the United Kingdom listed Gmail among their top 5 most important mobile apps, while a similar survey carried out in Sweden saw Gmail tie with WhatsApp for a spot among the top mobile apps nationwide.