Average global internet use is up to 7 hours 18 minutes per day, and online activity keeps expanding alongside it. At the same time, security signals are getting harder to ignore, from phishing making up 83% of malware in 2023 to major shares of websites still not supporting TLS. Put those together with growing broadband gaps, cloud spending forecasts, and shifting buying habits, and you get a picture that feels anything but static.
Key Takeaways
- In 2024, average daily time spent on the Internet across devices was 7 hours 18 minutes per day (DataReportal global average)
- 2.06 billion people bought online in 2023 (UNCTAD estimate cited in its digital economy monitoring)
- In 2023, there were 262 million people purchasing online on a cross-border basis (UNCTAD estimate referenced in UNCTAD digital economy figures)
- 46.7% of the world’s population used the Internet in 2012, rising to 66.2% in 2024
- Google reported that phishing accounted for 83% of all malware in 2023 in its Transparency Report coverage
- In 2023, 77% of breaches in Verizon’s DBIR involved some form of criminal activity
- The Internet Archive reported that 2024 averaged 103 million monthly active users across its web services
- In 2023, the FCC estimated 51.6 million Americans lacked access to fixed terrestrial broadband meeting the benchmark standard
- Satellite broadband coverage reached 2.7 billion people worldwide (as estimated in industry coverage maps used for ITU planning)
- The EU Digital Decade targets: 100% of households covered by gigabit connectivity by 2030
- Netcraft reported that 37.7% of websites did not support TLS in its January 2024 Web Server Survey data
- In 2024, the global average share of responses with ‘no-cache’ headers was 18.0% (HTTP Archive header usage measurement)
- In 2023, the global digital advertising market was $638.0 billion (eMarketer forecast for 2023)
- Global mobile data traffic per smartphone was 15.8 GB per month in 2024 (Ericsson Mobility Report estimate)
- NIST reported that there were 111,654,976 DNS query logs in its datasets used for Internet measurement in 2023
Internet use keeps growing alongside soaring security and cloud costs, from 7 hours daily online to major breaches and phishing.
Related reading
01 · Category
User Adoption5 stats
01
In 2024, average daily time spent on the Internet across devices was 7 hours 18 minutes per day (DataReportal global average)
02
2.06 billion people bought online in 2023 (UNCTAD estimate cited in its digital economy monitoring)
03
In 2023, there were 262 million people purchasing online on a cross-border basis (UNCTAD estimate referenced in UNCTAD digital economy figures)
04
In 2024, 72.1% of Internet users watched online video at least monthly (IAB/Google measurement in 2024 State of Interactive or similar index)
05
In 2024, 55% of internet users reported buying products online at least once in the past 12 months (OECD consumer survey data summary)
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
With 7 hours 18 minutes spent online per day and 55% of users buying online in the past 12 months, user adoption is clearly accelerating as more people translate everyday usage into frequent purchasing behavior.
02 · Category
Global Usage1 stats
01
46.7% of the world’s population used the Internet in 2012, rising to 66.2% in 2024
Interpretation
Global Usage Interpretation
Global Usage has surged from 46.7% of the world population using the Internet in 2012 to 66.2% in 2024, showing steady expansion in worldwide connectivity over the past decade.
03 · Category
Security & Resilience3 stats
01
Google reported that phishing accounted for 83% of all malware in 2023 in its Transparency Report coverage
02
In 2023, 77% of breaches in Verizon’s DBIR involved some form of criminal activity
03
The Internet Archive reported that 2024 averaged 103 million monthly active users across its web services
Interpretation
Security & Resilience Interpretation
For Security & Resilience, the data shows phishing driving 83% of malware in 2023 while 77% of breaches in Verizon’s DBIR involved criminal activity, underscoring that the biggest threat vectors remain human-driven and must be addressed to protect internet services.
More related reading
04 · Category
Infrastructure & Economy11 stats
01
In 2023, the FCC estimated 51.6 million Americans lacked access to fixed terrestrial broadband meeting the benchmark standard
02
Satellite broadband coverage reached 2.7 billion people worldwide (as estimated in industry coverage maps used for ITU planning)
03
The EU Digital Decade targets: 100% of households covered by gigabit connectivity by 2030
04
The EU Digital Decade target: 5G coverage for all populated areas by 2030
05
IDC forecasts global cloud infrastructure spending to reach $649 billion in 2027
06
Gartner forecast worldwide end-user spending on information security products and services to reach $267.6 billion in 2024
07
Gartner forecast global IT spending to reach $6.8 trillion in 2027
08
The Internet of Things (IoT) is projected to have 14.4 billion connections by 2022 (historical projection figure)
09
In 2024, the global CDN market size was $7.7 billion (2022-2028 forecast range reported by Fortune Business Insights)
10
The global cybersecurity market size was $173.2 billion in 2023 (Fortune Business Insights cybersecurity market page)
11
The global AI in cybersecurity market size was $24.6 billion in 2023 (Fortune Business Insights AI in cybersecurity page)
Interpretation
Infrastructure & Economy Interpretation
With 51.6 million Americans still lacking benchmark fixed terrestrial broadband in 2023, the Infrastructure and Economy picture shows that massive investment is being pulled toward closing connectivity gaps and scaling demand, from 2.7 billion people covered by satellite broadband to global cloud spend projected to reach $649 billion by 2027.
05 · Category
Industry Trends4 stats
01
Netcraft reported that 37.7% of websites did not support TLS in its January 2024 Web Server Survey data
02
In 2024, the global average share of responses with ‘no-cache’ headers was 18.0% (HTTP Archive header usage measurement)
03
In 2023, the global digital advertising market was $638.0 billion (eMarketer forecast for 2023)
04
In 2023, business email compromise (BEC) accounted for 27% of reported cyber incidents in the Proofpoint dataset
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Industry Trends data show that insecure or suboptimal security and data handling remain persistent issues, with 37.7% of websites lacking TLS support in Netcraft’s January 2024 survey and BEC making up 27% of reported cyber incidents in 2023.
06 · Category
Infrastructure & Cost3 stats
01
Global mobile data traffic per smartphone was 15.8 GB per month in 2024 (Ericsson Mobility Report estimate)
02
NIST reported that there were 111,654,976 DNS query logs in its datasets used for Internet measurement in 2023
03
In 2023, global IPv6 adoption reached 46.1% (share of global unique IP addresses supporting IPv6, per APNIC/RIPE measurement summary)
Interpretation
Infrastructure & Cost Interpretation
As Infrastructure & Cost pressures intensify, global mobile users are consuming about 15.8 GB of data per smartphone per month in 2024, while measurement data at the scale of 111,654,976 DNS query logs and IPv6 adoption reaching 46.1% in 2023 show how growing traffic and address needs are pushing networks toward greater efficiency and modernization.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Stefan Wendt. (2026, February 13). Internet Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/internet-statistics
MLA
Stefan Wendt. "Internet Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/internet-statistics.
Chicago
Stefan Wendt. 2026. "Internet Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/internet-statistics.
Sources & references
27 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+6 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)