Internet Usage Statistics: Online Life By The Numbers

Most Americans can’t go a day without checking their email, logging into their social media accounts or simply browsing the vast online world. Internet usage statistics confirm that this decisive technology of the information age has become a facet of our everyday lives. The younger generations have never known a world without it, and the number of global users is continually swelling.

However,  internet facts and internet statistics  show that there are still those who regard this service as either unaffordable or unnecessary. Meanwhile, in some corners of the world, the internet is heavily censored, and internet freedoms are limited. So, how many people are using the internet and where? The following internet statistics delve deeper into these issues.

World Internet Usage and Population Statistics

Our first set of statistics explores the size of the internet landscape. The following data delves into how many people use the internet, how many people have internet access and how many websites are there online. Although there are still corners of the globe where only the privileged few have access to the wireless signals, the number of users plugging into the network is rising by the minute, especially in developing countries.

1. Stats about the internet show that there are over 1.74 billion websites online, but only around 200 million of them are active.

(Internet Live Stats)

2. The number of internet users in the world rose to 4.45 billion in 2020, up from 3.92 billion in the previous year.

(Internet Live Stats)

3. Chinese internet usage statistics from 2019 reveal that the Asian giant had the highest number of internet users - 854 million. That’s more than double the number of users in the US, which had just over 293 million.

(Statista)

4. An overview of worldwide internet usage statistics by region shows that East Asia holds the top spot with one billion online users followed by Southern Asia’s 803 million.

(Statista)

5. According to the world population and internet usage statistics, English is the most popular language on the internet, representing 25.2% of internet users. Chinese was ranked second with 19.3%.

(Statista)

6. An estimated 86.9% of the population in developed states uses the internet, compared to 47% of people living in developing countries. The global online access rate is currently 53.6%.

(Statista)

7. According to broadband internet usage statistics, the country with the fastest average fixed broadband internet speed is Singapore with an average speed of 194.09 Mbps.

(Statista)

8. South Korea has the fastest mobile internet speed. Global internet traffic statistics show that the country’s average mobile internet speed is 112.77 Mbps.

(Statista)

9. The latest internet traffic statistics show that video accounted for 57.7% of global downstream internet traffic.

(Statista)

10. Website use statistics reveal that Netflix accounted for 26.6% of total downstream video traffic.

(Statista)

11. In 2018, global e-retail sales grew by 22.8% compared to 2017. Business internet usage statistics show that retail eCommerce sales accounted for 12.2% of all global retail sales.

(Statista)

12. In 2019, 39% of European internet users were more concerned about their online privacy compared to the year before. According to international internet usage statistics, 53% of global internet users felt the same way.

(Statista)

13. Web user statistics show that Facebook received 128,617 law enforcement agency requests for user information throughout 2019. The social media giant supplied user data for 73.6% of those requests.

(Statista)

14. The US was ranked first in law enforcement request volume to Facebook. Internet usage statistics show that US federal and government agencies accounted for over 50,700 of all requests.

(Statista)

15. Sites statistics show that 90% of hacked Content Management Systems platforms were WordPress-based.

(Sucuri)

16. Data compiled by daily internet usage statistics reveals that more than 90,000 websites are hacked every day.

(Hosting Facts)

17. Statistics on internet usage show that a 100-millisecond delay in website load time lowers conversion rates by 7%.

(Akamai)

18. According to internet usage increase statistics, there are approximately 342.4 million website domain name registrations across all top-level domains

(VeriSign)

19. Internet usage statistics by country highlight the notable increase of internet users in the US which grew from 287 million to 312 million between 2017-2019.

(Statista)

20. Worldwide internet usage statistics compiled by Freedom House name Estonia and Iceland as the states with the highest degree of internet freedom, while China was ranked as being the least free.

(Statista)

21. Global internet usage statistics show that  Google, Facebook and China’s Tmail are the most popular websites in the world.

(Alexa)

22. Statistics on internet usage show that Facebook is the world’s most popular social network with almost 2.41 billion monthly active users. Facebook is followed by YouTube (2 billion) and WhatsApp (1.6 billion).

(Statista)

23. Facebook is the most popular mobile social app in the US according to website usage statistics with 169.76 million mobile users. Instagram and Facebook Messenger are second and third with 121 and 106 million users respectively.

(Statista)

Internet Device Usage Statistics

Over a decade ago, most of us dreaded accessing the internet on mobile phones. The high costs and the snail's pace web speeds made desktop PCs the preferred place for browsing. But today’s internet bandwidth usage statistics show that mobile devices have officially become our favorite way for accessing the internet, even for online banking. Our internet usage statistics help to unveil the current scale of mobile internet use.

24. In the third quarter of 2019, mobile internet usage statistics show that it accounted for 60% of all organic search engine visits.

(Statista)

25. Mobile was responsible for 52.2% of all internet traffic in 2018, marking a 222% increase over a 5-year period. These mobile vs desktop internet usage statistics show that the former dominates global internet use.

(BroadbandSearch)

26. Statistics on daily internet usage show that users aged 25 to 34 spend an average of 3 hours and 45 minutes online every day.

(Statista)

27. Back in 2000, only 1% of American households had broadband internet, according to US internet usage statistics. In 2019, that number rose to 73%, although the adoption rate has slowed down in recent years.

(Pew Research)

28. Internet usage statistics by category show that the most popular internet activities on mobile are checking emails (59%), using social media (54%) and watching videos (52%).

(Statista)

Internet Usage Statistics

So, how many people actually use the internet and for what? The available data shows that the soaring popularity of video content runs parallel with rising internet speeds. Meanwhile, the age of an average internet user is declining as younger generations grow up with the technology.

29. According to internet statistics on usage, 90% of the adult US population uses the internet. Meanwhile, every single American aged 18 to 29 is an internet user.

(Statista)

30. The latest internet usage statistics by age show that 77% of adult internet users access the internet on a daily basis. Additionally, 26% use the internet almost constantly.

(Statista)

31. A look at internet usage and population statistics reveals that the average daily minutes of internet consumption per capita was 170 minutes in 2018.

(Statista)

32. In 2018, the average daily minutes of desktop internet consumption per capita was 39 minutes and declining. On the other hand, smartphone internet usage statistics show that daily mobile internet consumption is projected to increase to 155 minutes in 2021.

(Statista)

33. About 65% of employees stated that they use the internet during the workday for non-work related purposes. Internet usage at work statistics indicate that these habits led to a 40% decrease in productivity for businesses.

(Connect Solutions)

34. Internet usage statistics by year show that there were 3.48 billion social media users worldwide in 2019, marking a 9% increase (288 million) from 2018.

(We Are Social)

35. An estimated 14% of youngsters aged 3 to 18 had no internet access at home in 2017. Children’s internet usage statistics found that in 34% of those cases, online access was deemed too costly, while 43% said the family did not need it.

(US Department of Education)

36. Statistics on children's internet usage show that three quarters of minors aged 5 to 15 who play video games do so online.

(Ofcom)

37. Statistics on teenage internet usage show that YouTube is growing in popularity among this same age group with 89% of those aged 12 to 15 using the platform.

(Ofcom)

38. More than half the minors aged 5 to 15 use streaming services like Netflix, according to internet usage statistics by age group.

(Ofcom)

39. An estimated 99% of minors aged 12 to 15 spend 20 hours per week online, according to statistics on children's internet usage.

(Ofcom)

40. Statistics about internet usage reveal that 16% of children aged 8 to 11 and 31% of those between 12 to 15 years old have seen something online that they found disturbing.

(Ofcom)

41. The average student spends more than 6 hours or more per day on the Internet. Out of those 6 hours, student internet usage statistics show that 33.3% was devoted to educational purposes and 66.6% to social media and entertainment.

(Pace University)