How Much Data Created Every Day in 2022?

This blog, posted on March 14, 2022, was written by Jacquelyn Bulao from TechJury.

How Much Data Is Created Every Day in 2022?

Overview
It’s now possible to see how much data is created every day, as well as how much data we consume regularly. You might be surprised to find out that:
• In 2020, people created 1.7MB of data every second.
• By 2022, 70% of the globe’s GDP will have undergone digitization.
• In 2021, 68% of Instagram users view photos from brands. 
• By 2025, 200+ZB of data will be in cloud storage around the globe.
• In 2020, users sent around 500,000 tweets per day. 
• By the end of 2020, 44ZB will make up the entire digital universe.
• Every day, 306.4 billion emails are sent, and 500 million tweets are made.

How Much Data Do We Use?
Given how much data is on the Internet, the actual amount of data used is difficult to calculate. But if we’re talking about how much data is created every day the current estimate stands at 1.145 trillion megabytes per day. That’s not all.

1. On average, every human created at least 1.7MB of data per second in 2020. 
(Source: Domo)
Why 1.7MB? Our next statistic will give it more perspective. 

2. We created 2.5 quintillion data bytes daily in 2020.
(Source: Domo)
If you’re wondering how much data the average person uses per month, you can start by looking at how much data people created every day in 2020 on average. That figure stood at 2.5 quintillion bytes per day. There are 18 zeros in a quintillion.

3. 463EB of data will be generated each day by people as of 2025.
(Source: Raconteur)
Based on how much data is already generated every day by humans through social media, video sharing, and communications, the number will surely increase.

Now let’s talk about the Internet. Even as you read this your device stores a lot of unusable data. You may consider using a tool to free up some space and remove unnecessary files. Internet usage growth statistics tell us that people around the world are increasingly gaining access to the Internet. Logically, the number of Internet users and search queries is also increasing. This impressive information growth rate is only set to continue.

4. There were 4.66 billion active Internet users around the world in January 2021.
(Source: Statista)
Internet growth statistics show that 4.66 billion people are using the Internet as of January 2021. That’s close to 60% of the world population.

That’s staggering growth, bearing in mind that there were only 2.6 billion Internet users in 2013.

It looks like mobile phones were more popular than other devices, with 4.28 billion unique users. With mobile-friendliness being a top feature for most sites today, that makes a lot of sense.

5. There were 319 million new Internet users in 2020.
(Source: Data Reportal)
According to the growth of the Internet statistics, 300+ million new users joined the Internet in 2020. As of 2021, the growth rate is 7%, translating to around 875K new users/day.

6. The end of 2021 could see two trillion Google searches.
(Source: ILS)
Google is the number one search engine, with a 91% market share. Wonder how many people use Google? Experts predict that the engine’s searches will amount to about 2 trillion in the whole of 2021. That equates to 6 billion searches a day.

Exactly how much data is created every day on social media? The social media usage statistics themselves suggest a fair amount. Here’s some insight into the popular platforms of Facebook and Twitter.

7. 15% of the content on Facebook is video.
(Source: Social Insider)
Videos are making their footprint on Facebook, the largest social media network. In 2020, there were 10.5 million videos on the site. 71% of them came from accounts with over 100,000 followers.

8. Five hundred thousand new tweets were posted every day in 2020.
(Source: David Syce)
It’s hard to fathom how many tweets users send per day. Half a million Tweets in a day is a loooot! That translates to almost 2 billion per year. Now imagine how many potential clients brands could reach using this mode.

9. Facebook generated 4PB of data every day in 2020.
(Source: Kinsta)
As you may know, one petabyte equals one million gigabytes. So how did Facebook use 4PB per day? That’s due to the amount of time users spend on Facebook, as data growth statistics throughout 2020 reflect. In fact, people are on Facebook more than any other social network. “Facebook is dead.” Sure, TikTok-ers, sure. If you only knew just how many Americans used Facebook.

10. 68% of Instagram traffic views brand photos in 2021.
(Source: Business of Apps)
Almost 70% of visitors on Instagram are viewing photos from brands in 2021. Brand videos aren’t doing too shabby either, with 66% viewership.

So, what else are people checking out when on the social media platform?
Here’s the breakdown for the most notable metrics:
• User content: 67%
• Influencer photos: 63%
• Celebrity videos: 62%

Video growth statistics tell us that YouTube, Twitch, and Snapchat tend to be the most popular social platforms for video sharing. What is interesting though is the difference in data they individually use.

11. A 480p video on YouTube uses 8.3MB per minute and 500MB per hour.
(Source: WhistleOut)
‘How much data does a YouTube video use?’ is a fairly common question. It largely depends on the quality of the video being played. 480p is the standard definition, however, higher quality settings like 1080p will inevitably use more data.

12. A 480p video on Twitch uses between 0.405GB and 0.54GB per hour.
(Source: Stream Scheme)
Although this may not seem much (and really, it isn’t), the truth is that it is more than other platforms like YouTube and Snapchat.

13. You need 1MB to send one Snapchat.
(Source: Canstarblue)
If you want to find out how much data Snapchat uses, I’m afraid there’s no public data relating available. However, it’s estimated that one Snapchat costs 1MB to send. Remember that you’ll need more than that for high-definition pictures, videos, or Snapchats with filters.

14. In 2020, the watch time for videos on Twitter rose by 72%.
(Source: Hootsuite)
Twitter used to be famous for bit-sized posts. Now, the viewership of videos on the site is growing fast. In 2020, it rose by 72%. This would be a good time for brands to capitalize on posting videos on the platform. How often you use communication apps or tools has a massive effect on how much data is created every day. 

15. One text message only uses the equivalent of 0.0001335 MB of data.
(Source: Side Hustle Nation)
Determining data used based on how many texts are sent per day is quite tricky. SMS messages are normally included in a phone plan, hence why we can’t draw an exact figure. What we do know is that 0.0001335MB, the amount of data used in sending one text, is hardly astonishing.

16. Sharing a message on WhatsApp usually uses only KBs of data.
(Source: Quora)
Interested in knowing how much data WhatsApp uses per message? The truth is that it’s usually not much. However, if you share a video, this can use more than 1MB of data. In fact, this normally uses between 500MB and 2GB of data.

17. Expect to use between 0.5MB and 1.3MB per minute for a VoIP call.
(Source: GenVoice)
Again, a variable. It all comes down to the technology being used by your VoIP provider, as well as your own personal use habit.

18. In 2024, the number of emails will be about 361 billion every day.
(Source: Statista) 
Data growth statistics show that the number of daily emails flying across the web will increase by 55.2 billion in the next few years. The mode of communication continues to be a preference for brands and individuals alike, despite the advancements in chat and messaging apps. Data growth stats in 2021 tell us that big data is growing at an unprecedented rate. The majority of the world’s data has come about in only the past 2 years as indicated by data growth statistics. Meanwhile, machine-generated data will account for 40% of Internet data this year. Thankfully we have data visualization tools to make all this data understandable. 

19. Almost 70% of GDPs will have undergone digitization by 2022.
(Source: IORG)
The biggest lesson that Covid-19 has taught economies is that digitization is paramount. The most significant advantage is that work can still go on without reporting to physical work locations. Data growth statistics show that by 2022, over 70% of GDPs worldwide will have gone through some form of digitalization. The demand for collaboration software, cloud solutions, and contactless services will go up as Governments and organizations strive to move away from analog systems.

That’s not all. By 2023, investment in Direct Digital Transformation (DXT) will amount to $6.8 trillion. Organizations will continue to work on their existing systems during this time to seek better ways for service delivery, distributed workforces, and cost-cutting.

20. Cloud storage around the world will amount to 200+ZBs by 2025.
(Source: Cybercrime Magazine)
Storage data growth statistics show that both public and private cloud infrastructure will receive 200+ ZB of data by 2025. That will be up from 2019’s 4.4ZB and 2020’s 44ZB.

That will be a double-edged sword.The positive will be that businesses will have attained most of their digitalization plans to produce that data. The downside will be that cybercrime will thrive.

But that will only happen if organizations and governments drop the cybersecurity ball, which will be less than likely. 

21. Machine-generated data accounted for over 40% of Internet data in 2020.
(Source: Handbook of Research on Cloud Infrastructures for Big Data Analytics)
Statistics on data ML growth and web data growth show that humans generated 60% of data on the Internet last year. The global machine language value will amount to $117.19 billion by the end of 2027.

IoT is showing no sign of slowing down. In fact, the industry is booming. As the number of IoT devices increases, the number of active users and subscriptions increases too. Here are the three key stats you need to know about IoT technology.

22. By 2023, there are expected to be around 1.3 billion IoT subscriptions.
(Source: Statista)
So why is this figure so high? Although many household IoT devices do exist, many of them are used outside the home in places like factories and hospitals. 

23. The number of  IoT devices will reach 25.44 billion in 2030.
(Source: Statista)
In 2019, the number of connected devices was only 7.74 billion. By 2030, that number will more than triple, according to data growth statistics. In the consumer segment, the primary use cases for the technology will be media devices like smartphones. Other examples include smart grid, asset tracking & monitoring, autonomous vehicles, and IT infrastructure.

24. China had 3.17 billion IoT devices in 2020.
(Source: Statista)
China had over 3 billion IoT-connected gadgets in 2020. When it came to spending on the equipment, the country was at the top in the AsiaPac region with $168 billion in 2019. South Korea came second with $26 billion.