Global Internet Statistics - 2020 Summary

2020 saw half of the world under some sort of confinement and the other half with very limited options involving social interactions.  Not surprisingly, the use of all Internet-based activities, from online shopping to social media and video streaming increased around the world.  Our “screen time” stats went off the charts and for a good reason.  At the same time, with everyone working from home and schooling from home, bandwidth has become an issue and our normally smooth broadband connectivity has become spotty at times.

The numbers below were collected both before and during the peak of the pandemic around the world. The key factor to consider is how many of these numbers will continue to grow even AFTER we return to normal life without any restrictions in our outdoor activities.  My guess is very much all of them.

But before we get to these numbers, did you know that on average, there are over 190 Billion emails sent each day?  How many of those did you send or receive…?

General Internet Stats and Facts:

  • With a current world estimated population of 7.8 billion, there are approximately 4.79 billion people worldwide who have access to and use the internet frequently. That means that 61.4% of the world population uses the internet. 
  • From the year 2000 to 2019, the usage of the internet increased by 1,157%. 
  • As of June 2019, the world region of Asia accounts for the majority of internet users in the world. 2,300,469,859 people in Asia are online, which makes up 50.7% of the global internet population.
  • 89.4% of America and 87.7% of Europe has access to and uses the internet on a daily basis. Both regions have some of the highest internet penetration rates.
  • Countries in the Middle East have seen a 5,243% growth in internet usage since 2010.
  • There are currently 351.8 million registered domain names in the world.
  • 35% of all websites are using WordPress as their content management system.  That’s over 60 million websites.
  • The most common domain name extensions are: .com, .net, .org, .co, .us.
  • In 2019, the number of emails sent and received globally was 293.6 billion per day. By 2022, it’s expected to increase to 333.2 billion emails sent and received per day.
  • Every minute, Americans generate 3,138,420 GB of internet traffic.

Social Media Usage Statistics:

  • In 2019, there were 3.484 billion social media users around the world.
  • Facebook is the fourth most visited website in the world.
  • YouTube was the number one downloaded app globally in 2019.
  • 68% of Americans use Facebook as their primary social media channel, followed by 35% using Instagram, 29% using Pinterest, and 24% on Twitter.
  • Only 35% of people using Facebook are under 25.
  • 66% of monthly active users on Facebook come back to the platform every day. 74% of American users are found on the platform daily, too.
  • The average American uses Facebook for nearly 1 hour (58 minutes) every day.
  • The average session duration on Facebook is between 10 and 12 minutes.
  • 88% of Facebook traffic comes from mobile devices using the Facebook mobile application.
  • Facebook isn’t just for connecting with friends and family or using Messenger. In fact, 78% of users have used the platform to find new products and services. And Facebook is the most popular marketing platform of any social media channel for both B2B and B2C businesses.
  • 80% of people using Instagram are outside of the United States.
  • 34% of users are Instagram are in the “Millennial” generation category.
  • 25% of smartphone users have the Instagram application installed on their device.
  • 22% of Instagram accounts login every single day.
  • 38% of all Instagram users will check their application more than once per day.
  • In a single day on Instagram, 4.2 billion pictures are “liked.” To add to that, there are nearly 100 million new pictures/posts created on Instagram every single day, and 400 million more stories posted. Story feature usage has increased by 100 million posts since 2017.
  • Every minute, there are 79,740 posts published on Tumblr, 176,220 calls made on Skype, 473,400 tweets sent on Twitter, and 2,083,333 snaps sent on Snapchat.

Mobile Internet Statistics:

  • 45% of people globally watch an hour or more of online video content every single day.
  • 50% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 would drop their current task to watch a new YouTube video from a channel they subscribe to.
  • 40% of Millennials report trusting YouTube for high-quality content. 60% of them stated that videos on the platform have impacted their personality and worldview.
  • Video is an important part of the buying journey for consumers in the modern world. 50% of people on the internet watch videos and product demos before purchasing anything. 
  • Videos that go over two minutes in length tend to see significant drop-offs in user retention. But, if someone watches more than six minutes of your video, they are likely to stay for the entirety of it.
  • In the last few years alone, mobile video-based advertising spend has increased by 95%.
  • More than 50% of content consumed on YouTube is done via mobile devices and the YouTube mobile application.
  • 90% of video views on Twitter are done through their mobile app.

Global & US eCommerce Internet Statistics:

Global

  • There are between 12M to 24M ecommerce sites in the world (99firms, 2020)
  • The total value of global retail ecommerce sales will reach $4.13T in 2020 (99firms, 2020)
  • Global B2C ecommerce sales are expected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2021 (Hubspot, 2020)
  • The fastest growth in retail ecommerce between 2018 and 2022 is expected in India and Indonesia (99firms, 2020)
  • Ecommerce retail sales accounted for 14.1% of global retail sales in 2019 (99firms, 2020)

U.S

  • 80% of Internet users in the US have made at least one purchase online (99firms, 2020)
  • Ecommerce sales were up 104% in June 2020 over June 2019 (Signifyd, 2020)
  • Consumers spent $601.75 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2019, which is up 14.9% in 2018 (Digital Commerce 360, 2020)
  • US click-and-collect ecommerce sales are expected to grow 60.4% to $58.52 billion (eMarketer, 2020)
  • 61% of online shoppers made an online purchase related to fashion, which is higher than any other product category (99firms, 2020)
  • On average, only 2.86% of ecommerce website visits convert into a purchase (99firms, 2020)
  • As many as 18% of local searches lead to a sale within 24 hours (Small Biz Genius, 2019)
  • eCommerce influences up to 56% of in-store purchases (Small Biz Genius, 2019)
  • 2019 holiday season, Brick-and-mortar sales grew by 1.4%, while eCommerce grew by a staggering 8.1% (PYMNTS, 2020)
  • Some even expect “roughly 33% of America’s malls to go dark” by next year (Emarsys, 2020)

I hope this information is useful for you!  Until next time, this is Manuel Gil del Real.

Other Sources:

Broadbandsearch.net

Statista.com

Google Trends

Oberlo.com

DigitalThirdCoast.com

InternetLiveStats.com

Photo by BRUNO EMMANUELLE on Unsplash