Internet User Statistics In 2023 — (Global Demographics)

Since the year 2018, every day, approximately 900,000 people have gone online for the first time. In 2023, there are more than 5.3 billion active Internet users around the globe, accounting for 65.4% of the global population

China has the highest number of internet users, with 1.05 billion, followed by India, with 729 million, and the United States, with 311 million.

This growth is driven by several factors, including the increasing affordability of smartphones and mobile data and the growing popularity of online services such as e-commerce, streaming video, and social media.

This post has some interesting insights on the number of internet users globally. Let us take a look at them below:

Internet User Statistics 2023 (At A Glance)

There are 5.3 billion internet users in the world as of 2023, meaning over 65% of the world’s population has access to the internet.

The number of internet users is expected to reach 6.54 billion by 2025.

China has the highest number of internet users, with 1.05 billion, followed by India, with 836 million, and the United States, with 311 million.

92.1% of internet users primarily use smartphones to browse the internet.

Northern Europe has the highest internet penetration rate in the world.

The global reach of social media has grown to 4.74 billion people.

On average, internet users spend 6 hours and 40 minutes online daily.

60% of the world’s web traffic is from mobile phone users.

Over 2/3rd of global internet users use laptops and desktops for their online activities.

The global internet usage penetration rate by gender is 67.4% for males and 61.7% for females.

Global Internet User Statistics

Let us explore more about how the past, current, and future of the number of internet users in this section.

The global internet user base stands at 5.3 billion, as per the latest data.

Let’s take a look at the number of internet users over the years:

Year	Number of Internet Users
2025*	6.54 billion
2023	5.3 billion
2022	5.10 billion
2021	4.901 billion
2020	4.585 billion
2019	4.119 billion
2018	3.729 billion
2017	3.444 billion
2016	3.217 billion
2015	2.954 billion
2014	2.750 billion
2013	2.562 billion
2012	2.387 billion
2011	2.174 billion
2010	1.981 billion
2009	1.727 billion
2008	1.545 billion
2007	1.367 billion
2006	1.147 billion
2005	1.023 billion

Over 65% of the world’s population uses the Internet.

Here is a table showing the share of the global population using the Internet over the years:

Year	Share of Global Population Using The Internet
2023	65.40%
2022	63.10%
2021	53.70%
2020	52.40%
2019	50.80%
2018	48.90%
2017	46.80%
2016	44.60%
2015	43%
2014	40.70%

It is expected that there will be 27.1 billion networked devices in 2023.

Google Chrome (63.5%) has the largest share among browsers.

Apple’s Safari owns 19.95% of the market share of browsers.

Internet usage increased by 1355% from the beginning of the year 2000.

Currently, there are 370.7 million domain names in the world.

45% of the websites prefer WordPress as their CMS, It accounts for over 38.359 million websites.

CMS Usage Distribution on the Entire Internet

347.3 billion emails are exchanged every day in current times.

The average speed of a website in the United States was found to be 5-6 seconds in every industry.

It was reported that more than 1.5 million songs are streamed on the Spotify platform every minute.

93% of American adults are reported to use the internet.

Here is a table showing the number of US adults using the Internet over the years:

Year	US adults
2009	76%
2010	76%
2011	79%
2012	83%
2013	84%
2014	84%
2015	86%
2016	88%
2018	89%
2019	90%
2021	93%
2022	90.81%
2023	91.56%

In the year 2020, global internet traffic was reported to be 92 times greater than that in 2005.

Every minute, Americans generate 3,138,420 GB of internet traffic.

In 2021, 54.4% of the global traffic was reported to be generated from mobile devices compared to the year 2009, when only 0.7% of the traffic was generated from mobile devices.

Source: Cisco, eMarketer, Statista, broadband search.

Internet User Penetration Rate and Usage Statistics

Globally, more than half of the people have a connection to internet services. Here are a few stats related to global internet users that you must know.

98% of the population in Northern Europe had access to the internet and it ranked first among the regions for the highest internet penetration rate.

Western Europe had an internet usage rate of 94%.

The global internet users reached the 5 billion mark on July 2022.

Asia has the largest internet base, with more than 2.7 billion internet users.

Here is a table showing the penetration rate of the internet in different regions as of 2023:

Region	Internet Penetration Rate
Northern Europe	98%
Western Europe	94%
Northern America	93%
Southern Europe	88%
Eastern Europe	87%
Southern America	78%
Oceania	72%
Western Asia	75%
South-Eastern Asia	73%
Eastern Asia	74%
Central America	72%
Southern Africa	68%
Caribbean	69%
Central Asia	67%
Northern Africa	64%
World	63.1%
Southern Asia	46%
Western Africa	43%
Eastern Africa	26%
Middle Africa	25%

North Korea has no internet penetration and ranks last globally.

Source: Statista, Cisco

Internet User Demographics

Let us take a look at the statistics related to internet users’ demographics in this section.

67% of the world’s males and 62% of females use the internet as of 2023.

Here is a table showing the internet users based on gender:

Year	Male	Female
2019	55%	48%
2020	62%	57%
2022	69%	63%
2023	67%	62%

Source: Pewresearch.org, Statista.

Home Broadband Statistics

Many households worldwide prefer the home broadband connection as compared to mobile internet services

There are over 1.4 billion fixed broadband subscriptions globally.

Here is a small table showing the number of fixed broadband subscriptions globally over the years

Year	Fixed broadband subscriptions globally
2022	1.4 billion
2021	1.32 billion
2020	1.22 billion
2019	1.13 billion
2018	1.07 billion

As of 2023, the average download speed for mobile internet was 42.07 Mbps, while the average for upload speed was 10.33 Mbps.

If we talk about broadband, then the values change drastically. The average download speed is 80.12 Mbps and for uploads it is 35.13 Mbps.

The Asia Pacific region has the most number of fixed broadband. The Americas and Europe make it to the second and third spot.

Here is a breakdown of world regions with the most number of fixed broadband:

World region	Number of fixed broadband
2013	70%
2015	67%
2016	World Region
2018	65%
2019	73%
2021	77%

Source: Statista, broadband search, Pewresearch.org.

Smartphone Users

Most internet users prefer mobile to carry out searches and get updated. Smartphones are convenient to carry everywhere and provide an easy search method. Here are a few stats related to smartphone internet users around the globe.

58.33% of total traffic came from mobile devices worldwide.

Smartphone app usage time in the United States has increased by 25% since 2019.

Mobile devices drive 65% of e-commerce traffic.

the average person spent 3.46 hours per day using the internet via their mobile device.

Here is a list of the most popular mobile activities:

Social media (92%)
Browsing the web (89%)
Checking email (87%)
Using messaging apps (86%)
Streaming videos (85%)
Playing games (84%)

Source: Statista, Pewresearch.org, Cisco.

Social media statistics

When it comes to internet usage, most of it is spent on social media sites. Here are some statistics that reflect the light on social media platforms and their usage as of 2023.

There are 4.9 billion social media users globally. It is forecasted that this number will reach 5.85 billion by 2027

Year	Number of Social Media Users
2023	4.90 billion
2022	4.59 billion
2021	4.26 billion
2020	3.9 billion
2019	3.51 billion
2018	3.1 billion
2017	2.73 billion

Facebook was the first social media platform to surpass more than one billion accounts registration. Today it holds the position as the #1 social media in terms of users too, the platform has 2.99 billion users.

Whatsapp has 2.7 billion active users, while Youtube has 2.68 billion active users.

Here is a table representing the active users on different social media platforms:

Social Media Platform	Number of Users
Facebook	2.99 billion
Whatsapp	2.7 billion
Youtube	2.68 billion
Instagram	2.5 billion
WeChat	1.67 billion
TikTok	1.67 billion
Facebook Messenger	988 million
Snapchat	750 million
Telegram	700 million

Tiktok is the most downloaded social media app of recent times.

Eastern Asia has the most social media users (26%) as of 2023.

China, with 1,021.96 million users, is the country with the most social media users. India ranks second with 755.47 million, and the United States makes it to the third spot with 302.25 million users.

A typical social media user interacts with 6.6 social media platforms.

Source: Cisco, Statista.

Video statistics

Videos are the most consumed digital media across all social media. So much that even platfroms like LinkedIn will have witnessed high video usage in revent times.

Let us take a look at some interesting facts associated with online videos in this section:

online video is expected to account for 82.5% of all web traffic, making it the most popular type of content over the internet.

3.1 billion people consume videos on the internet every day.

YouTube users watch 1 billion hours of video daily

The short-form video provides the greatest ROI of any social media marketing tactic, according to a new HubSpot analysis of 2023 marketing trends.

It was reported that 50% of users between the age of 18 and 34 would drop their current task and watch a video on a channel they just subscribed to.

50% of the people watch videos of the products and their demos before buying them.

If a person watches more than 6 minutes of a video then it is likely that they will watch the whole video.

90% of the video view on Twitter are recorded through mobile.

There is a 95% increase in the expenditure of video-based advertising.

Source: eMarketer, Statista

Search Statistics

I’ve shed a light on internet user’s searching habits and trends in this section

Google Search owns approximately 92% of the search engine market share.

Google accounts for 96.17% of the global mobile search engine market worldwide.

8.5 billion searches take place on Google every single day. That converts to 99,000 searches per second.

With mere 3% share, microsoft’s Bing comes at the second spot in search engine market share.

60% of the search market share in China is owned by Baidu.

More than 1 billion voice searches take place every month.

Google Lens is used for 8 billion visual searches per month.

Ecommerce statistics

Ecommerce is thriving, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. Let us take a look at some insightful figures on the ecommerce market in this section.

2.14 billion people are shopping through e-commerce as of 2023.

Mobile devices account for 70% of all visits to eCommerce sites.

$3.4 trillion out of the $4.9 trillion online retail sales come from smartphones.

Online purchases account for 75% of all repeat purchases.

The Philippines and India lead the way for retail e-commerce sales growth.

Here is a table showing the countries with the most ecommerce sales growth:

Country	Growth in retail e-commerce
Philipines	25.9%
India	25.5%
Indonesia	23%
Brazil	22.2%
Vietnam	19%
Argentina	18.6%
Malaysia	18.3%
Thailand	18%
Mexico	18%
United States of America	15.9%

Source: Statista, Cisco, eMarketer.

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Wrapping Up

The growth of the Internet has had a profound impact on societies and economies around the world. It has made it possible for people to connect with each other more easily, access information and resources more quickly, and conduct business more efficiently.

We hope we were able to solve most of your questions regarding Internet users in this post. I will keep updating the post as we get hands on updated data.