25 VPN Statistics 2025: Usage, Market & Trends

VPN usage has surged globally, with over 1.6 billion people using VPNs. In the U.S., nearly 46% of internet users rely on VPNs, many using them to secure their personal and professional activities.

Furthermore, 93% of organizations worldwide now depend on VPN services due to increasing concerns about privacy, security, and unrestricted access to information.

Let’s explore the latest facts and figures about the number of people using VPNs, VPN usage, and more, in this article.

VPN Statistics 2025: At A Glance

  • Over 1.6 billion people worldwide use VPNs.
  • In the U.S., 46% of people use VPNs.
  • In the UAE, 38% of internet users rely on VPNs.
  • Nearly 75% of VPN users access it on desktops, while about two-thirds use it on smartphones.
  • In the U.S., 44.2% prefer free VPNs, while 51.2% opt for paid services.
  • Globally, 93% of organizations use VPN services.
  • The VPN market is projected to reach $75.59 billion by 2027.

How Many People Use VPNs?

  • Over 1.6 billion people worldwide use VPNs.
More Than 1.6 Billion People Worldwide Use VPNs

5.3 billion people worldwide use the internet daily. Out of these, 31% use VPNs. 

25.4% of the customers said that security is the main reason for using VPNs, while 39.4% said that they were using it for work. 

Source: Surfshark. 

  • 130 million VPN downloads were recorded in the first half of 2023. 

VPNs were downloaded 277 million times in 2020. This number increased almost thrice in 2021, reaching 785 million VPN downloads. 

However, In 2022, the number of VPN downloads declined by almost 50% and reached 353 million. 

Source: Atlas VPN. 

What Percent Of Americans Use A VPN?

46% of Americans use VPNs.

That translates to about 105 million people across the country. Roughly half of these users depend on VPNs for work or business purposes, while the other half use them for personal devices. 

It’s also estimated that around 10 million more American adults might start using VPNs this year.

Source: Security.org

  • 51.2% of Americans use a paid VPN service. 

Besides, under one in ten VPN users in the United States use corporate VPNs. 

Here are further details about the types of VPNs used by Americans. 

  • Paid VPN: 51.2%
  • Free VPN: 44.2%
  • Free trial: 27.0%
  • Corporate VPN: 9.7%

Source: NordVPN. 

Sage Reads: The average daily screen time in the US is 7 hours and 04 minutes.

VPN Usage By Country

As of the first quarter of 2024, 38% of internet users in the United Arab Emirates use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for various online activities. 

In comparison, Russia ranks second, with approximately 37.6% of its online users also employing VPNs during the same period.

Percentage Of Internet Users By Country

The following table displays the percentage of internet users in different countries using VPNs:

CountryPercentage Of Internet Users Using VPN
United Arab Emirates38%
Russia37.6%
Indonesia33.1%
Turkey30.3%
Switzerland28%
Vietnam27.6%
India27.1%
Malaysia26.2%
Hong Kong26%
Saudi Arabia26%
Singapore25.4%

Source: Statista. 

VPNs are partially banned in 10 countries, including China and Russia. 

The ban in all these countries is limited to an extent. Most professionals residing in these countries use VPNs for work and business needs. 

The other countries where it is illegal to use VPN are:

  • North Korea
  • Belarus
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uganda
  • Iraq
  • Turkey
  • Iran
  • Oman

Apart from these countries, the usage of VPN comes with restrictions in countries like Egypt, Venezuela, UAE, Myanmar, etc. 

Source: Cyberghost

VPN Users Demographics 

  • 46% of females and 54% of males worldwide use VPNs. 

According to Surfsharks report, the majority of VPN users are male. However, there is not a huge difference between the share of male and female users. 

This displays that the gender gap has reduced as the GWI data from 2017 found that 62% of the VPN users were male and only 38% were female.

Source: Surfshark, GWI.  

  • Millennials mostly use VPNs compared to other age groups.

1 in 5 users aged between 25 and 34 said they use a VPN.

Surprisingly, only 16.5% of the tech enthusiasts Gen Z used a VPN.  

In fact, Gen Z even fell behind Gen X in VPN usage. 

Share of Adults Using VPN Services From Different Age Groups

The following table displays the share of adults using VPN services from different age groups:

Age GroupPercentage Of VPN Users In Different Age Groups
16 to 24 years16.5%
25 to 34 years22.8%
35 to 44 years15.5%
45 to 54 years17.4%
55 to 64 years12.9%
Over 65 years14.8%

On the contrary, GWI’s latest report highlights that 39% of the VPN users were aged between 16 and 22 years, while the millennial users were 36%. 

Hence, there is no larger difference between the share of GenZ and Millennial VPN users.

Source: Surfshark, GWI. 

VPN Market Statistics

  • The worldwide virtual private network(VPN) market size was $44.6 billion in 2022.

The market is expected to reach $ 75.59 billion by the end of 2027. 

This is an increase of more than $30 billion in the market size during the forecast period of 2023 to 2027. 

VPN Market Size Recorded Over The Years

The following table displays the VPN market size recorded over the years:

YearMarket Size Of VPN Recorded Over The Years
2027*$75.59 billion
2026*$77.1 billion
2022$44.6 billion
2019$25.41 billion

*Predicted

  • Cisco AnyConnect leads the global virtual private network industry. 

The company owned a market share of 28.6%. The company was closely followed by Cisco VPN, with a market share of 28.6%. 

Juniper VPN and Citrix Gateway had the industry’s third and fourth-highest market share. 

The following table provides further details about the VPN market share:

Leading Technologies In The VPN IndustryMarket Share
Cisco AnyConnect28.6%
Cisco VPN25.51%
Juniper VPN10.62%
Citrix Gateway8.1%
OpenVPN5.31%
Other21.86%

Source: Statista. 

  • The VPN market exceeded $11.6 billion in India. 

India is the leader of the top three largest VPN markets, along with China and Indonesia. 

Although VPN is banned in China, most businesses and companies require VPN. Hence, the market there is quite huge. 

The United States stands fourth in the list of top VPN markets worldwide with $2.7 billion. 

Top VPN Market Worldwide As Of 2022

The following table displays the top VPN market worldwide:

VPN Market VPN Market Size In The Country
India$11.64 billion
China$9.9 billion
Indonesia$4.14 billion
Brazil$2.7 billion
Philippines$1.6 billion
Turkey$1.22 billion
Russia$ 0.95 billion
Mexico$0.88 billion
Vietnam$0.88 billion
Thailand$0.86 billion

Source: Statista. 

VPN Usage Statistics

  • 43.6% of people use VPNs for personal reasons only.

VPN usage is not limited to just work purposes. Today, VPN is mostly used for personal security reasons. 

While 33.3% of people use VPN only for business purposes, and 23.1% use VPN for both personal and professional reasons. 

Source: Surfshark. 

  • 80% of people use VPNs for increased security measures.

According to Forbes, the majority of people use VPNs for increased security and for protecting personal information.

Some users prefer to use a VPN to avoid ads, two-factor authentication, etc.

The following table displays why people use VPNs:

Reason For Using VPNPercentage Of VPN users 
Increased security80%
Protect personal information66%
Use on public Wi-Fi50%
Mask internet activity33%
Two-factor authentication30%
Increased inscription18%
Required by employer16%
Protect employer’s data6%
To avoid ads6%

Source: Forbes. 

  • Half of internet users use VPNs for general security reasons.

According to security.org, an additional 40% use VPN for securing personal data, and one-third use VPN while using public wifi to mitigate risks. 

Another one-third of the users said they needed a VPN because of job requirements. 

Some less common reasons were bypassing school, office, college, or government restrictions at 9% each. 

Source: secutity.org

  • 46% of people who use a VPN for personal use do it for accessing streaming services. 

According to Forbes, people use VPNs to mask their IP addresses from unsecured Wi-Fi and on public sites. 

Additionally, 16% use VPNs for torrenting, and 26% use VPNs for accessing region-locked content.

Did you know? Two of every three Netflix users use a VPN to view their services. 

  • 36% of people use a VPN every day.

At the same time, 41% of people use VPNs at least once a week.

This can result from the increased popularity of remote work and its rise during the pandemic and post-pandemic periods.

Most companies have deployed hybrid work, and many IT professionals are still working remotely. 

The following infographic displays further details about the frequency of VPN usage. 

  • 43% of the remote workers use VPN for work purposes. 

Over 4 in 10 remote workers said that they needed a VPN for work. While 38% said they didn’t use a VPN.

Source: PCMatic

  • 93% of organizations and businesses use VPNs for work. 

The majority of the company requires a VPN for work purposes. In fact, a single VPN is not sufficient, and 41% of organizations have three or more global inbound VPN gateways. 

Source: Cybersecurity Insiders

VPN Usage By Devices

  • 72% of desktop or laptop users use a VPN.

The majority of people prefer to use a VPN on their PC or laptop as it is more convenient and secure. 

69% of the people use a VPN on mobile. This is unsurprising, considering that most people connect to public WiFi through their phones. 

Among the iOS users, 52% said that they used a VPN. On the other side, just 37% of Android users use a VPN even though many VPNs work well with the Android OS.

Besides, only one-third of Tablet users use a VPN. 

Source: Forbes. 

Globally, more than 60.67% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices.

  • 14% use a VPN for their streaming stick. 

According to the Top 10 VPN Global VPN usage report, almost a similar share of PC/laptop users and Smartphone users use VPNs. 

The survey states that 64% of smartphone users and 62% of laptop/PC users use a VPN. 

One-fifth(21%) of the users install a VPN on their tablets, and one in 10(10%) users use it for TV and game consoles(9%). 

Surprisingly, 8% of people use a VPN for their routers as well. 

Source: Top10VPN

VPN Security Statistics

  • 54% of the respondents said that they feel secure when using a VPN.

It is undoubtedly one of the major advantages of using a VPN. However, this gives a false sense of security as VPN is not a comprehensive security solution. 

57% of the respondents to the Forbes survey said that they experienced a cyber attack while using a VPN. 

Source: Forbes. 

  • 25 million VPN user records were exposed in 2022.

The data of 21 million VPN users was exposed in early 2021. Also, the account logins for GeckoVPN, SuperVPN, ChatVPN, and other free VPNs were listed on sale for the dark web. 

Seven free VPN providers were found responsible for 1.2 TB of leaks. 

Source: Forbes. 

  • 72% of cybersecurity leaders are concerned about the security risks of VPNs. 

94% of organizations know that VPNs are potential targets for cyber attackers. Hence, 19% of organizations are very concerned about VPNs compromising their security. 

Some of the major concerns pointed out by businesses and organizations are social engineering(75%), ransomware(74%), and malware attacks(60%). 

Source: Cybersecurity Insiders. 

Conclusion: 1.6 Billion People Worldwide Use Vpn

VPN usage is rapidly growing as more individuals and organizations prioritize online privacy and security.

Over 1.6 billion people globally are using VPNs, with notable adoption rates in the U.S. (46%). Besides, Nearly 75% of the VPN users rely on desktops, and two-thirds also use VPNs on smartphones.

This displays a global shift towards secure, unrestricted internet access, with VPNs becoming essential for both personal and professional use.

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