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100+ Internet Statistics & Trends [2026 Update]

Did you know we spend an average of nearly 7 hours a day glued to our screens? Get ready to decode the secrets behind these and other impressive Internet statistics and trends for 2026

Fresh take on a classic! This post, originally shared in 2018, has been completely revamped for 2026. Buckle up for the latest internet stats, meticulously curated to keep you ahead of the curve in this ever-evolving digital landscape. From mind-blowing screen time surges to the next viral trend taking the world by storm, you won't want to miss this comprehensive update.

Chapter 1

Internet Statistics & Facts

This is a collection of internet statistics and facts for 2026

Key takeaways:

See references

How many people use the internet in 2026? As of early 2026, there were around 6.12 billion Internet users worldwide (about 74% of the global population). To illustrate the massive increase in internet usage, 3.42 billion users were recorded at the end of 2016.

The average global internet user spends around 6 hours and 38 minutes online every day.

The number of global internet users has grown by around 5% year over year, adding roughly 294 million new users.

Asia continues the trend of having the largest number of internet users globally, making up 53.6% of the internet world. Runners-up include Europe (13.7%), Africa (11.9%), and Latin America/Caribbean (9.9%).

Interestingly, North America makes up only 6.4% of all internet users worldwide.

China has the biggest number of active internet users in Asia: 1,010,740,000. Right behind it is India, with 833,710,000 users. The next closest countries include the United States, with more than 312,320,000 (This number has exceeded the predicted amount of 307.34 million internet users), and Russia, with 124,630,000 internet users.

As of January 1, 2025, 342,976,833 people live in the United States. Nearly three times that number of people are using the internet in China, which has a population of 1,425,671,352.

North America has the highest penetration rate, with 93.4% of its people using the internet. This figure is followed by Europe (89.6%), Latin America/Caribbean (81.8%), the Middle East (78.9%), and Australia/Oceania (71.5%).

How many websites are there in 2026? As of 2026, there are around 1.49 billion websites on the internet - though only around 218 million of them are active. Published on August 6, 1991, info.cern.ch was the first-ever website on the internet.

As of 2026, the world has an average internet penetration rate of around 74% (as compared to 35% in 2013).

North Korea remains the country with the least amount of internet users, sitting at almost 0%.

Google now processes 8.5 billion search queries every day worldwide. The average internet user conducts between 3 and 4 Google searches on a daily basis.

When Google launched in September 1998, it processed approximately 10,000 search queries daily.

Google Chrome enjoys a whopping 65.86% of the global web browser market. Other popular internet browsers rank as follows – Safari (18.7%), Firefox (3.04%), Edge (4.44%), Samsung Internet (2.68%), and Opera (2.28%).

Around 74% of the world's population now uses the internet. In 1995, less than 1% of the world's population had an internet connection.

More people access the internet via mobile devices than they do via desktop computers. As of 2026, mobile devices generate around 60% of global website traffic.

For the first time in a decade, automated traffic has overtaken humans online: 51% of all web traffic is now generated by bots (37% of it from bad bots, the rest from good bots). Humans account for the remaining 49% - a shift driven largely by the rise of AI.

How many domain names are there in 2026? The global domain name base ended 2025 with around 386.9 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains.

.com and .net together account for the largest share of registrations, with .com remaining by far the most popular top-level domain in the world.

The most popular language on the internet is English. 25.9% of the internet is in English, 19.4% is in Chinese, and 8% is in Spanish.

Chapter 2

Online Advertising Statistics & Facts

Here is a collection of online advertising and internet marketing statistics and facts for 2026

Key takeaways:

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Experts forecast that over $950 billion will be spent on digital advertising globally in 2026 - an all-time high, and roughly 70% of all advertising spend worldwide.

Search and retail media advertising continue to make up the largest categories of digital ad spend.

Retail and ecommerce now lead all industries in digital ad spending, with combined spending exceeding $180 billion when retail media networks are included.

Google continues to control a large share of global digital ad spending, though its dominance has slipped as Amazon and retail media networks grow.

The majority of Google search ad clicks are now made via mobile devices.

In 2025, Meta's (formerly Facebook) total advertising revenue reached around $196 billion. Meta earns more than 98% of its total revenue from advertising.

The average search ad spending per internet user was projected to reach $50.94.

TikTok's ad revenue has continued to surge, climbing well past $20 billion as the platform matures into a major advertising channel.

Snapchat has built a self-serve mobile advertising platform where businesses of all sizes can create ads in various formats. This matters because around 474 million people now use the app daily on average.

Chapter 3

Blogging Statistics & Facts

What's happening in the world of blogging statistics and facts for 2026? Let's find out.

Key takeaways:

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How many blog posts get published every day in 2026? According to the latest data, around 7.5 million blog posts are published daily.

How many blogs are there? As of 2026, well over 600 million blogs are hosted on WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and Google's Blogger.

WordPress reigns supreme as the Internet's most popular CMS and blogging platform. WordPress powers around 41.5% of all websites on the Internet and commands close to 60% of the known CMS market.

Longform content of 3000+ words gets three times more traffic than articles of average length (901-1200 words).

Websites with blogs generate 55% more traffic, and blog titles containing 6-13 words get the most attention.

Food is the most profitable blogging niche, with the highest median income of $9,169.

Blogging is the second most popular content marketing channel (after social media) and accounts for 36% of all online marketing.

81% of consumers trust information found on blogs. In fact, 61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog.

B2B brands are more likely to use blogs, case studies, whitepapers, and interviews as part of their marketing strategy.

75% of people never scroll past the first page of search results, and between 70-80% of people ignore Google ads.

Google processes 8.5 billion search queries every day worldwide. The average internet user conducts between 3 and 4 Google searches on a daily basis.

83% of marketers believe it's more effective to create higher quality content less often.

The average word count of high-ranking content on Google is about 1,447 words, while a post must contain over 300 words to have a chance of ranking well.

Chapter 4

Domain Name Statistics & Facts

Let's now dive into domain name statistics and facts for 2026

Key takeaways:

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How many domain names are there in 2026? The global domain name base ended 2025 with around 386.9 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains.

.com remains by far the most popular top-level domain in the world, with over 160 million registrations.

The top 5 most expensive publicly reported domain names ever sold are:

Cars.com ($872 million).

CarInsurance.com ($49.7 million)

Insurance.com ($35.6 million)

VacationRentals.com ($35 million)

Privatejet.com ($30.18 million)

.com is still the most popular domain extension. As of the end of 2025, there were around 161 million .com domain name registrations.

New generic top-level domains (ngTLD) continue to gain ground. The most popular remains .xyz, with roughly 11 million registrations, with .top close behind and .shop, .online, and .store among the fastest-growing.

The five most popular domain name extensions are currently .com (53.3%), .ca (11%), .org (4.4%), .ru (4.3%), and .net (3.1%).

Google.com, YouTube.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, and Instagram.com are the most popular domain names of 2024.

The most popular TLDs for venture capital-backed startups are .com, .co, .io, .ai

GoDaddy is the largest domain name registrar, with over 76.6 million domain names, followed by NameCheap with 16.5 million domain names.

Chapter 5

Web Hosting Statistics & Facts

Now, let's have a look at the latest web hosting statistics and facts for 2026

Key takeaways:

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How many websites are there in 2026? As of 2026, there are around 1.49 billion websites on the internet, although only about 218 million are active. The global web hosting services market is projected to reach around $179 billion in 2026.

The world's first website was published on August 6, 1991, by British physicist Tim Berners-Lee.

The most popular content management systems (CMSs) include WordPress, Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace, with WordPress having a CMS market share of around 59% (and Shopify a distant second at around 5%).

WordPress, the open-source content management system, powers around 41.5% of all websites on the internet.

Around a third of all websites on the internet don't use a content management system.

62.6% of all websites today are hosted on either Apache or Nginx, both free-to-use open-source web servers.

The most prominent sites using WordPress include Time Magazine, Disney, Sony Music, TechCrunch, Facebook, and Vogue.

In 2026, WP Engine, Hostinger, SiteGround, Bluehost, and GreenGeeks remain among the best hosting providers on the market.

The average website loading speed is 10.3 seconds, and Amazon.com would lose $1.6 billion per year if its website slowed down by 0.1 seconds or more. Walmart enjoyed a 1% increase in revenue for every 100ms increase in download speed.

53% of consumers will leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load. And 64% of consumers who are dissatisfied with site performance say they'll go elsewhere next time.

Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify are the most popular website builders to create a site with. However, according to builtwith.com, sites created by a website builder only make up 5.6% of the top 1 million sites on the internet.

Chapter 6

Ecommerce Statistics & Facts

Here's the rundown of eCommerce statistics and facts for 2026

Key takeaways:

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For a site making $100,000 per day, a one-second-page delay could cost $2.5 million in lost sales annually.

Around 90% of global search volume comes from Google, and users click the first search result a large share of the time.

eCommerce sales reached $2.29 trillion in 2017 and are projected to reach around $8.5 trillion in 2026.

While it's hard to quantify precisely, E-commerce sales make up around 20% of total global retail sales - a figure that has more than doubled in the past decade.

Well over 2.5 billion people worldwide now shop online, a figure that continues to climb year over year.

Digital and mobile wallets now make up around 53% of all global e-commerce transaction value, making them the single most popular online payment method, ahead of credit and debit cards. Interestingly, North Americans still lean more heavily on credit cards than shoppers in many other regions.

This year, online grocery shopping will have a global value of $354.28 billion. By 2030 this is expected to rise to an eye-watering $2,158.53 billion.

One in four people shop online at least once a week, yet only 28% of US small businesses are selling their products online.

Shoppers look online first on over 60% of shopping occasions. And 87% of shoppers say getting a good deal is important to them.

28% of online shoppers will abandon their cart if the shipping costs are too high.

Only a small fraction of US holiday shoppers now avoid digital channels entirely - the overwhelming majority shop online to some degree during the festive season.

According to Google Consumer Insights, shoppers make buying decisions based on unboxing videos, home improvement blogs, and written recipes.

67% of YouTube watchers have made a purchase as a result of viewing sponsored content.

9 out of 10 consumers say that free shipping is an incentive to buy online. Orders that include free shipping are, on average, 30% higher in value.

61% of consumers are likely to abandon their cart or cancel their purchase if they do not receive free shipping. 93% of online buyers will buy more if it means getting free shipping.

US retail mobile-commerce sales reached around $543 billion in 2024 and are projected to climb past $760 billion in 2026, as more of online retail shifts to phones.

In 2024, Shopify estimates that the global value of online abandoned carts was $18 billion.

The top reason for abandoned shopping carts is because of negative reviews, followed by a lack of return policy and then slow website loading rates.

The total time people spend browsing shopping apps worldwide topped 100 billion hours.

49% of mobile users use their devices to compare the pricing of the products or services before choosing to buy. 30% use their mobiles to find more information on a product, and 29% seek items on sale.

The top reasons for cart abandonment include: shipping costs too high, not ready to purchase, not qualifying for free shipping, shipping costs shown too late in the purchase process, and websites loading too slowly.

Shopify powers millions of online sellers. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Shopify processed a record $124 billion in GMV (gross merchandise volume) - its first-ever quarter above $100 billion - bringing full-year 2025 GMV to around $378 billion, up roughly 29% year over year. Shopify remains one of the largest online retail platforms in the United States.

Black Friday 2025 set a new record with $11.8 billion in US online sales, a 9.1% increase year over year. "Buy now, pay later" options continued to surge during the sale period.

58.2% of shoppers prefer to use big box stores or large-scale retailers for their shopping. However, 31.9% will buy directly from well-known E-commerce brands, while only 9.9% will choose a niche or independent retailer.

Amazon now accounts for around 40% of all US online sales, dwarfing the next-largest players. Amazon's net sales for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, reached $213.4 billion, up about 14% year over year, contributing to full-year 2025 net sales of roughly $717 billion.

33.4% of US shoppers prefer shopping online to going in-store. The same is true for 36.1% of UK shoppers and 26.5% of Australians.

Shoppers increasingly want "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) payment solutions. An estimated 380 million people worldwide now use BNPL, and global BNPL spending has grown to roughly $560 billion a year, with forecasts pointing to continued double-digit growth through the end of the decade.

According to Pingdom, the fastest website to date is bhphotovideo.com, followed by hm.com and bestbuy.com, all of which have page loading speeds of less than 0.5 seconds.

Chapter 7

Mobile Internet Statistics & Facts

Mobiles are the most popular way to connect online. Here are the top mobile internet statistics and facts for 2026

Key takeaways:

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About 46% of all emails are opened on mobile devices. Personalized emails have an average open rate of 18.8% compared with non-personalized at 5.7%.

Over 84% of Americans access the internet via mobile phones, and around 60% of global online traffic is now via a mobile device.

Mobile traffic continues to grow year over year, largely due to an increase in video content being viewed and greater access to streaming services.

67% of mobile phone users state that pages and links that are too small and not optimized for mobile screens are a barrier to online shopping.

92.1% of all internet users own a mobile phone.

People spend around 90% of their mobile media time on apps and the rest on websites. Globally, users spent a staggering 5.3 trillion hours in mobile apps in 2025, and the figure keeps rising.

Mobile-friendly website design remains a top marketing priority, and businesses are investing more in short-form video content for their mobile marketing strategy.

Americans check their phones at least 96 times daily or once every ten minutes. And the average American uses their phone for at least five hours and 24 minutes daily.

When using apps, 37.83% of mobile users are willing to share their data for a more personalized experience

Consumers can recall an in-app mobile ad 47% of the time and clickthrough rates are 34% better than when ads are placed natively.

Chapter 8

Social Media Statistics & Facts

This is a collection of social media statistics and facts for 2026

Key takeaways:

See references

As of 2026, there are around 5.79 billion active social media identities around the globe, equating to roughly 70% of the world's population.

Social media is the number one marketing channel for businesses, with video being the top content marketing media format.

How-to articles are one of the most shared types of content on social media. How To posts earned 18.42% of shares on platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

The average attention span in 2000 was 12 seconds. This year, the average attention span is just 8 seconds. That's less than the 9-second attention span of your average goldfish.

The most popular social media platform is still Facebook, followed by YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, and WeChat. TikTok remains one of the most-downloaded apps in the world, though its growth has cooled - in 2025, AI apps led by ChatGPT became the fastest-growing category, with ChatGPT topping the global download charts.

Meta's Twitter rival Threads broke all records when it launched, and got 150 million downloads within its first week.

Facebook currently has around 3.07 billion monthly active users.

People aged 65 and over are Facebook's fastest-growing user base demographic.

93% of social media marketers use Facebook Ads, and the highest volume of traffic on Facebook tends to be Wednesday and Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Top brands on Instagram are seeing a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21%, which is 58 times higher than on Facebook and 120 times higher than on Twitter.

X (formerly Twitter) currently has around 600 million monthly active users, though its ad revenue has fallen sharply since Elon Musk's takeover.

X remains most popular in the US, followed by Japan, India, Brazil, the UK, and Indonesia.

Instagram surpassed 3 billion monthly active users in 2025, making it one of the largest social platforms in the world.

TikTok has been downloaded billions of times and remains one of the most downloaded apps in the world.

The average TikTok user opens the app 19 times per day. Kids are spending up to 75 minutes per day on the app.

The most popular messaging apps (in order of popularity) are Whatsapp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, QQ, Snapchat, and Telegram.

The latest research shows that Snapchat now has around 474 million daily active users across the globe.

Users aged between 18 to 24 are Snapchat's largest advertising audience, and over 5 billion Snapchats are created each day on average.

Over 500 million people interact with Instagram Stories every day.

Over 1 billion messages are exchanged between brands and users each month, with 33% of people saying they would rather contact a business through messaging rather than a phone call.

88% of brands have a dedicated influencer marketing budget, and last year, 68% of marketers worked with influencers and will spend between 50k – 500k per year.

Chapter 9

Internet Security Statistics & Facts

Here is all the latest cybersecurity statistics and facts for 2026.

Key takeaways:

See references

Cybercrime damages worldwide are expected to cost around $10.5 trillion annually in 2026, and are projected to climb toward $12.2 trillion annually by 2031.

73% of cyber attacks are carried out for economic reasons.

30,000 websites are targeted and attacked every day.

The UK has one of the highest numbers of cybercrime victims per capita, while the United States suffers the largest overall share of attacks.

Ransomware attacks occur every few seconds, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage each year.

Smart devices such as home assistance tech, wearable tech, and other "Internet of Things" devices are prime targets for cybercriminals since they do not feature tight security.

The median ransom payment after a ransomware attack is now around $1 million, though victims frequently negotiate this down.

It is estimated that there is a victim of a cybercrime every 37 seconds, and a large share of internet users have had their email addresses or passwords exposed in a data breach at some point,

1 in every 131 emails contains malware

46% of ransomware operators impersonate authority figures like the FBI, police, and government officials. 82% lock the victim's computer without encrypting files.

Victims report that 42% of ransomware attackers ask for a prepaid voucher of some kind.

The most common cybersecurity crimes are phishing scams, internet fraud, intellectual property infringement, identity theft, harassment, and cyberstalking.

The largest-ever data breach happened in 2013 when 3 billion Yahoo users' phone numbers, birth dates, and security questions were hacked.

35% of ransomware attacks arrive by email, while 15 billion spam emails are sent every single day.

Data breaches now cost businesses a global average of around $4.44 million, with the US average far higher at around $10.22 million.

Investment fraud has been found to be the most costly form of cybercrime, with each victim losing an average of $70,811.

51% of small businesses have no cybersecurity in place, and no VPN, and only 17% of small businesses encrypt their data.

Roughly 31% of all internet users - about 1.75 billion people — now use a VPN. The global VPN market is worth $44.6 billion and is projected to grow to $101 billion by 2030. Despite this, almost 50% of personal VPN users still rely on free providers. Learn more about VPN usage statistics.

Over 43% of cybercrime attacks target small businesses, and 37% of companies affected by ransomware have less than 100 employees.

Summary

The online world shifts dramatically from one year to the next. What was true yesterday may be completely different tomorrow. That means we have to constantly evolve our marketing, content, and selling strategies to keep up.

While this list of statistics and facts may seem fun on the surface, they have a deeper purpose. Whether it was just one statistic that jumped out at you or several facts that caught your eye, use the information to shape your future online.

Now we know what happened in 2025 and what's in store for 2026, we can look forward to a successful year ahead.

Reference these internet statistics and facts as you like, and feel free to share them on your socials. Know any interesting facts yourself? I'd love to hear about them.

References

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