Internet Statistics to Know About in [year]

More than 6 billion people now use the internet, which is roughly three out of every four people on Earth. In the United States, nine in ten adults go online every day, and about four in ten say they are online almost constantly. The internet is no longer something you “go on." It is something you live on, from streaming and shopping to work, school, and a growing list of AI tools.

These internet statistics show how people connect, what they do online, and where gaps still exist. Every number comes from reports published in late 2025 or 2026. Research firms measure things differently, so figures from different sources will not always align perfectly.

Internet Users 2026

Internet Users Worldwide

The global internet population reached 6.12 billion people in April 2026, according to DataReportal’s Digital 2026 Mid-Year Global Update. That works out to a global internet penetration rate of 73.8 percent. More than 80 percent of adults aged 16 and older are already online.

China and India account for a huge share of that total. China has close to 1.3 billion internet users, or about one in five of everyone online worldwide. India passed 1 billion users after its national statistics office reported that 70 percent of Indians now use the internet.

Here is the catch. Close to 2.2 billion people remain offline, mostly in Southern Asia and Central Africa. India still has the largest offline population, at more than 440 million people. About 70.7 percent of women worldwide use the internet, compared with 75.7 percent of men, and only 54.5 percent of rural residents are online, compared with 86.5 percent of people in cities.

Internet Use in the United States

Pew Research Center’s latest survey found that 90 percent of U.S. adults use the internet daily, and 41 percent say they are online almost constantly. That near-constant use climbs to 63 percent among adults ages 18 to 29 and drops to 14 percent among adults 65 and older.

About 78 percent of Americans subscribe to home broadband, and 91 percent own a smartphone. However, income still shapes who gets connected at home. Only 54 percent of adults in households earning under $30,000 a year have home broadband, compared with 94 percent of those earning $100,000 or more. About 16 percent of U.S. adults are “smartphone dependent," which means they own a smartphone but have no home broadband plan. That share rises to 34 percent among the lowest-income households.

Average Internet Usage

The typical online adult now spends about 33½ hours per week consuming online media, including streaming TV, according to DataReportal’s analysis of GWI data. Social media and online video feeds take up 18 hours and 36 minutes of that time each week, which is more than half of all connected activity.

The top reasons people go online are finding information (60.1 percent of online adults), staying in touch with friends and family (57.7 percent), and watching videos, shows, and movies (53.4 percent).

Internet World Stats 2026: Website Traffic

Mobile devices now drive most web traffic. In September 2026, phones generated about 59 percent of global web page views, while desktops accounted for roughly 39 percent and tablets less than 2 percent, according to StatCounter. These shares can swing from month to month, but mobile has held the lead for years.

Search Engine Stats

Google remains the clear leader in search. It held 89.94 percent of the worldwide search engine market in September 2026, according to StatCounter. Bing came in second at 5.29 percent, followed by Yahoo at 1.36 percent.

Google’s website also accounted for 19.79 percent of all traffic across the world’s top 10,000 websites between December 2025 and February 2026, according to Similarweb data reported by DataReportal. That share rose slightly over the previous six months, which suggests AI tools have not pulled people away from Google as quickly as many headlines claim. Still, use of search engines has dipped. The share of online adults who use a search engine each month fell to 79.3 percent, the first time it has dropped below 80 percent in GWI’s tracking.

Most Visited Websites 2026

Google is the most visited website in the world, with an average of 3.19 billion unique visitors per month. ChatGPT drew about 456 million unique monthly web visitors over the same period, and its mobile app averaged about 582 million monthly users.

Browser Statistics 2026

Google Chrome dominates the browser market with 66.36 percent of worldwide usage in September 2026, according to StatCounter. Safari ranks second at 18.27 percent, and Microsoft Edge ranks third at 6.04 percent. On mobile devices, Safari’s share rises to 24.71 percent because it comes standard on every iPhone.

Internet Speed Statistics

Americans enjoyed a median fixed broadband download speed of 307.16 Mbps as of August 2026, which ranked the United States seventh in the world, according to Ookla Speedtest data reported by Allconnect. Singapore consistently holds the top spot for fixed broadband speeds. Your own speed depends on your connection type and provider, so a fiber plan can look very different from a DSL or satellite plan.

Social Media Statistics 2026

Social media keeps growing despite constant headlines predicting its decline. There were 5.79 billion social media user identities worldwide in April 2026, equal to 69.9 percent of the global population. That figure grew by 294 million over the previous year, or more than 800,000 new users every day. These “user identities" may include duplicate accounts, so unique people are likely somewhat fewer.

About 96.7 percent of online adults use at least one social network or messaging app each month. The top reason is keeping in touch with friends and family, cited by 49 percent of adult social media users, followed by filling spare time at 39.3 percent.

Facebook Statistics 2026

Facebook remains the most widely used social platform based on survey data. About 56.3 percent of internet users ages 16 and older say they used Facebook in the past month, according to GWI. Outside China and Russia, where many Western platforms face restrictions, that share jumps to 73.4 percent.

Across its family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads, Meta reported 3.6 billion daily active people in June 2026. Meta also said Facebook has had more than 2 billion daily users for some time.

YouTube Statistics 2026

YouTube is the most used social media app when measured by actual app opens, according to Similarweb. Its app user base is about 1.5 times the size of TikTok’s. YouTube also leads in total time spent across social apps, and its average session lasts about 14½ minutes, longer than any other top social app.

In the United States, YouTube’s audience on connected TVs now outnumbers its mobile audience, according to its own ad reach data.

Instagram and WhatsApp Statistics 2026

Instagram reached 2 billion daily active users in the second quarter of 2026, according to Meta. It is also the favorite social platform among users ages 16 to 34. WhatsApp ranks as the world’s overall favorite social platform, with 17.4 percent of social media users naming it their top choice.

AI Statistics 2026

Artificial intelligence is the fastest-growing part of online life. About 81.2 percent of online adults used at least one form of AI in the past month, according to GWI’s survey of more than 240,000 people. DataReportal estimates that 2.42 billion people actively use generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek, a figure that more than doubled in a single year. ChatGPT alone had 900 million weekly active users, according to OpenAI.

Americans have been slower to adopt AI than much of the world. Only 71.5 percent of online adults in the United States used AI in the past month, nearly 10 percentage points below the global average.

Video Statistics on the World Wide Web 2026

Online video is part of nearly every connected adult’s week. About 94.6 percent of online adults watched some kind of online video in the past 30 days, and 91.7 percent watched streaming TV content, according to GWI.

In the United States, streaming is close to claiming half of all TV time. Streaming captured a record 49.0 percent of total TV viewing in July 2026, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge. Cable fell to a record low of 18.7 percent, and broadcast held 19.5 percent. YouTube alone accounted for a record 14.2 percent of all U.S. TV viewing, which makes it the most-watched media distributor on American televisions.

Global Ecommerce Market Statistics 2026

Online shopping keeps taking a larger share of retail spending. U.S. retail ecommerce sales reached $340.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 12.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Ecommerce made up 17.1 percent of total U.S. retail sales, up from 16.3 percent a year before. Online sales grew nearly twice as fast as total retail sales.

Worldwide, more than 57 percent of online adults say they prefer to shop online rather than in physical stores. That preference has eased slightly and sits at its lowest point since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Meanwhile, online grocery shopping keeps climbing, with 28.7 percent of online adults buying groceries online each week.

What These Internet Statistics Mean for You

The numbers point in one direction. People spend more time online every year, and they use more devices, streaming services, and AI tools to do it.

That growth puts real pressure on your home connection. If your internet plan has not changed in a few years, it may not match how your household uses the internet today. A slow plan means buffering and dropped video calls, while paying for far more speed than you need wastes money. The goal is to find the right fit.

Enter your ZIP code below to find the fastest internet providers and best plans available in your area today. You can compare speeds, prices, and current offers side by side and choose the connection that keeps up with your household.

Frequently Asked Questions About Internet Statistics

How many people use the internet in 2026?

About 6.12 billion people used the internet as of April 2026, which equals 73.8 percent of the world’s population. Roughly 2.2 billion people remain offline, mostly in Southern Asia and Central Africa.

What percentage of Americans have home internet?

About 78 percent of U.S. adults subscribe to home broadband, according to Pew Research Center. Another 16 percent rely only on a smartphone to get online. Access varies widely by income, with 94 percent of high-income households subscribing compared with 54 percent of the lowest-income households.

Is mobile or desktop internet use more common?

Mobile is more common. Phones generated about 59 percent of global web traffic in September 2026, compared with about 39 percent for desktop computers. Still, most phones, smart TVs, and laptops at home run on Wi-Fi, so your home broadband matters as much as ever.

Sources

[1] DataReportal.com “Digital 2026 Mid-Year Global Update Report"

[2] DataReportal.com “Digital 2026 Global Overview Report"

[3] PewResearch.org “What We Know About Internet Use, Smartphone Ownership and Digital Divides in the U.S."

[4] StatCounter.com “Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet Market Share Worldwide"

[5] StatCounter.com “Search Engine Market Share Worldwide"

[6] StatCounter.com “Browser Market Share Worldwide"

[7] StatCounter.com “Mobile Browser Market Share Worldwide"

[8] Allconnect.com “Americans Are Getting 307 Mbps in Download Speed, but Are You?"

[9] Bernama.com “Meta Reports Higher Q2 Revenue, Lower Net Income"

[10] Nasdaq.com “Meta Platforms Q2 Earnings Call Highlights"

[11] Nielsen.com “TV Usage Kicks Usual Summer Slowdown, Fueled by World Cup and Streaming in Nielsen’s July Gauge Reports"

[12] FRED.StLouisFed.org “E-Commerce Retail Sales as a Percent of Total Sales"

[13] PracticalEcommerce.com “Double-Digit Ecommerce Growth Returns"