How Much Data is Created Every Day in 2024? [Full Statistics]

An incredible amount of data is created every day.

From online interactions to smart devices, data production is skyrocketing, impacting every aspect of our lives.

How Much Data is Created Every Day in 2024?

In 2024, the estimate is approximately 402.74 million terabytes of data daily. This equates to around 147 zettabytes of data annually​ (Exploding Topics)​​.

The rapid increase in data creation is driven largely by video content, social media, and gaming, which together constitute the majority of internet data traffic.

For instance, video content alone accounts for 53.72% of all global internet traffic, underscoring the significant role of streaming services and social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Data is embedded in all our interactions, decisions, and processes. From how we shop and socialize to how we learn, build, and stay healthy, data is increasingly shaping the world we live in.

Statistics is abundant on the data created every day, but finding them and making sense of it all can be overwhelming.

In this article, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of stats that will give you an overview of data creation on a daily basis.

How Much Data is Created Every Day?

328.77 million terabytes of data are created every day in 2023, according to the most recent estimates made by Statista in 2020.

Expressed in zettabytes, this translates to:

• 120 zettabytes every year
• 10 zettabytes every month
• 2.31 zettabytes every week
• 0.33 zettabytes every day

Let’s have a look at what that translates to in different metric units:

Big Data Statistics

With a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 30% in the upcoming years, the global big data analytics market is poised to experience rapid growth.

The big data analytics market is projected to surpass $655 billion by 2029, showing significant growth compared to its value of approximately $241 billion in 2021.

By 2025, big data analytics revenue is anticipated to surge past $68 billion, a substantial increase from approximately $15 billion recorded in 2019.

The rise of big data analytics has been concurrent with the exponential expansion of the global data volume. One contributing factor is the Internet of Things (IoT), which encompasses the increasing interconnectedness of devices that generate and exchange data online.

The total number of IoT devices worldwide is predicted to be close to 30 billion in 2030.

Leading the market for big data and analytics software are renowned global providers like Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, and IBM.

Data Creation Over Time: An Overview

Between the years 2010-2025, Statista estimates that the total amount of data created in a year will have increased by 8,950%.

Note that these numbers are from the 2020 Statista report and that the statistics for 2021-2025 represent the forecasts that were made then.

This chart shows the volume of data/information created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide from 2010 to 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025.

• In 2010, a total of 2 zettabytes of data was generated, marking the beginning of the data explosion.
• By 2011, the data landscape had already expanded significantly, reaching 5 zettabytes, or 13.7 exabytes per day.
• The growth continued its rapid pace, with 6.5 zettabytes in 2012 and 9 zettabytes in 2013.
• By 2014, data production climbed to 12.5 zettabytes, continuing the escalating trend.
• In 2015, an astounding 15.5 zettabytes of data was generated, the equivalent of 42.47 exabytes each day.
• The momentum continued to accelerate, reaching 18 zettabytes in 2016.
• The world witnessed a remarkable jump to 26 zettabytes in 2017, indicating an explosive increase.
• In 2018, data volume surged to an unprecedented 33 zettabytes, setting new records.
• By 2019, the world had created a massive 41 zettabytes of data, highlighting its rapid growth.
• In 2020, data production soared to an astonishing 64.2 zettabytes, which works out to 175.9 exabytes daily.
• Forecasts predicted 2021 to see a data generation of 79 zettabytes.
• In 2022, the forecasted data generation was 97 zettabytes.
• In the year 2023, predictions were a total of 120 zettabytes, or 328.77 exabytes every day.
• By 2024, total data creation was forecasted to reach 147 zettabytes.
• And in 2025, predictions estimate a staggering total of 181 zettabytes.

The Growth in Data Creation

2023 is expected to see the generation of 120 zettabytes of data, and by 2025, this number is projected to increase by over 50%, reaching 181 zettabytes.

Below you will find a breakdown of the data generated each year from 2010 to 2025 (estimated), along with the year-on-year growth:

(Note: The asterisks (*) indicate projected data for the respective years.)

All in all, these numbers illustrate an explosive growth in how much data is generated in the world each day, and nothing indicates a slowdown in data creation.

How Much Data Is Created Every Day Per Person?

The amount of data created every day per person is approximately 0.0635 terabytes.

This calculation is derived from the following numbers:

• In April 2023, the total number of internet users worldwide reached 5.18 billion, representing approximately 64.6% of the global population.
• The total amount of data created every day in 2023 amounts to 328.77 million terabytes.

Based on this, the amount of data created per person per day is derived by dividing the total daily amount of data per day by the total number of internet users.

Where is Data Created?

The US stands out with over 5 times the number of data centers (2,701) compared to any other country. Following the US, the top five countries are:

• Germany (522)
• The UK (517)
• China (448)
• Canada (335)

The statistics below are 2023 numbers from Cloudscene, describing the data center density per region. The general trend when it comes to growth in data creation and data centers is a steep upward curve.

A data center serves as a network of computing and storage resources, facilitating the delivery of shared software applications and data. These centers play a crucial role in housing vast amounts of data, making them essential for the seamless operations of both companies and consumers.

Consequently, data center real estate, whether in the form of cloud, colocation, or managed services, is expected to gain growing significance on a global scale.

This map highlights the five countries with the largest number of data centers in the world: The US, Germany, the UK, China, and Canada.

US

• The US is home to a total of 5,344 data centers, a number five times greater than its closest competitor, Germany.
• There are 3,002 service providers in the United States.
• The US boasts 84 network fabrics.

Germany

• Germany has 522 data centers.
• The country hosts 882 service providers.
• There are 43 network fabrics in Germany.

UK

• The UK is home to 517 data centers.
• There are 1538 service providers in the country.
• The UK has 29 network fabrics.

China

• China hosts 448 data centers.
• There are 116 service providers operating in the country.
• China has 5 network fabrics in operation.

Canada

• Canada has 335 data centers.
• The country hosts 515 service providers.
• There are 24 network fabrics in Canada.

Australia

• Australia is home to 304 data centers.
• There are 745 service providers operating in the country.
• Australia boasts 21 network fabrics.

Japan

• Japan hosts 218 data centers.
• The country has 248 service providers.
• Japan’s connectivity ecosystem includes 7 network fabrics.

India

• India hosts 151 data centers.
• The country has 530 service providers.
• There are 9 network fabrics in India.

Why is Data Created?

Data is generated across a wide range of categories, such as messaging apps, emails, and social media.

Let’s have a look at how much data is created in some of those categories.

Video

In 2022, users uploaded 500 hours of video to YouTube every minute.

By 2027, video content is expected to account for almost 80 % of mobile traffic, with a projected tripling of this traffic within the next five years, as forecasted by Ericsson.

Email

In 2021, an estimated 319.6 billion emails were sent daily worldwide.

By 2025, this number is anticipated to escalate to 376.4 billion daily emails, globally.

Social Media

• Google has indexed hundreds of billions of web pages. All told, the index is about 100,000,000 GB large.
• As of April 2023, Facebook ranked first among the world’s most ‘active’ social media platforms with 2.989 billion monthly active users.
• Every second, 6,000 tweets are made on Twitter, resulting in over 350,000 tweets per minute, 500 million tweets per day, and approximately 200 billion tweets per year.
• Snapchat has 397 million daily users worldwide, and has experienced consistent increases in daily active users since the start of 2019.

Data Creation in Different Industries

Healthcare

Hospitals and health systems are progressively embracing data analytics to enhance their operations, optimize internal processes, and discover new possibilities.

Healthcare is expected to experience a greater surge in big data volume compared to any other field in the upcoming seven years.

In 2013, the data generated in healthcare amounted to 153 exabytes. By 2020, this figure had skyrocketed to 2,314 exabytes, showing a remarkable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 47% over the seven-year period, according to the American Hospital Association.

Banking

The Banking and Financial Services sector produces an enormous volume of data, surpassing 2.5 quintillion bytes already in 2021, according to Sandeep Reddy Vinjamuri, CTO at Reliant Vision Group Inc.

Every transaction and operation within the banking industry leaves a digital trace, providing the industry with a wealth of data-driven opportunities for banks to leverage and capitalize on.

Retail

In 2016, the worldwide retail analytics market attained a value of $3.14 billion. Projections indicated that it would surge to approximately 8.6 billion dollars by the year 2022.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry has experienced a significant surge in data generation, driven by advancements in automation, IoT devices, and interconnected production processes.

In 2018, the global big data market in the manufacturing industry amounted to $3.22 billion.

Projections indicated a significant growth trajectory, with expectations to reach $9.11 billion by 2026, showcasing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.0% throughout the forecast period.

How Much Data is Structured vs. Unstructured?

More than 90% of all data generated annually will be unstructured in 2026, according to IDC’s Global DataSphere forecast.

The chart below shows the forecasted growth of structured vs. unstructured data between 2022-2026, according to IDC.

How Much Data Is Stored?

In 2020–2025, the total installed base of data storage capacity is predicted to see a CAGR of 19.2 %.

Only 2% of the data produced and consumed in 2020 was kept and retained into the following year, according to Statista.

In 2020, the total installed base of storage capacity had already surged to an impressive 6.7 zettabytes.

Between 2023 and 2027, the global revenue in the storage segment of the data center market is projected to witness a substantial increase of $11.6 billion, representing a growth rate of approximately 24.21%.

In 2027, the revenue in the storage segment of the data center market is estimated to amount to $59.52 billion.

In 2022, organizations spent a total of $225 billion on cloud infrastructure services, marking a significant increase of $47 billion compared to the previous year.

The surge in the cloud infrastructure services market is attributed to the growing demand from enterprises seeking modern networking, storage, and database solutions.

FAQs

References

• Statista
• Cloudscene
• Statista
• Statista
• Statista
• Cloudscene
• Cloudscene
• Cloudscene
• Cloudscene
• Cloudscene
• Cloudscene
• Cloudscene
• Cloudscene
• Domo
• Statista
• Statista
• Google
• Datareportal
• Internet Live Stats
• Statista
• AHA
• Sandeep Reddy Vinjamuri
• IBM and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford
• Statista
• Fortune Business Insights
• IDC
• Statista
• Statista