How Much Internet Data Does the World Consume Every Minute?

Introduction: Getting a Handle on the Data Deluge

It’s easy to sense that the internet is eating more and more “bytes” every minute. What’s harder is putting numbers on it in a way that’s reliable and meaningful. We want not just how many terabytes or exabytes are flowing, but what is driving that growth—video, messaging, gaming, cloud storage—and how those components compare, both historically and geographically. This article pieces together what is known, what is estimated, and what seems likely in the near future.

What Do We Know — Baseline Figures & Growth

Several major sources provide data and forecasts on global internet traffic, device proliferation, and usage trends. Among them: Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) / Annual Internet Report; Ericsson Mobility Reports; the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); research from cloud/IoT forecasts; and industry‐aggregators like Statista and market analysis firms. Here are key verified recent figures:

• As of 2024, approximately 5.5 billion people — about 68% of world population — were active internet users.

• The total global data volume (all data generated, stored, transmitted, etc.) stood at about 149 zettabytes by 2024.

• Cisco’s “Annual Internet Report (2018–2023)” showed that by 2023, there were 5.3 billion Internet users (≈66% global population), up from 3.9 billion in 2018. Devices connected to IP networks were 29.3 billion by 2023, up from 18.4 billion.

• Mobile network traffic is rising fast: according to Ericsson’s most recent forecasts, mobile data traffic will continue growing, with year-on-year growth declining somewhat but still strong (≈ 15 % YoY by 2030), overall compound annual growth rate (CAGR) around 17%.

Another useful stat: global IP traffic monthly figures. Cisco’s earlier forecast (from ~2018) predicted ~396 exabytes/month of global IP traffic by 2022.

More recent sources suggest continuing growth: IBISWorld forecasts internet traffic volume reaching 409.1 exabytes per month in 2025, up from ~275.8 exabytes/month in 2020.

Estimating Data Consumed Every Minute

To work out how much data the world uses every minute, let’s take the monthly forecast of 409.1 exabytes of global internet traffic in 2025. A typical month has about 43,776 minutes (30.4 days × 24 hours × 60 minutes).

Now, if we divide 409.1 exabytes by 43,776 minutes, we get roughly 0.0093 exabytes per minute. Since one exabyte equals 1,000 petabytes, that works out to about 9.3 petabytes of data consumed every single minute worldwide.

Thus, global internet traffic is roughly ~9-10 petabytes per minute as of this forecast. (This is a rough large‐scale average; actual busy minutes / core networks will see more.)

To give more context:

• In 2021, Cisco reported global IP traffic of ~ 278.1 exabytes/month.

• That corresponds to ~6.35 petabytes per minute (278.1 / 43,776) during 2021.

So over ~4 years, the global internet‐per‐minute traffic ballooned from ~6.4 petabytes to ~9-10 petabytes — roughly a 40-60% increase (depending on exact data, rounding, seasonal variation, etc.).

What’s Driving the Growth

The raw numbers are astounding, but what are the levers behind the increase? Below are the major usage categories, their contributions, and how they have evolved.

Historical Comparison: How Fast We Got Here

To appreciate how much data per minute today is, it helps to see the growth curve.

• ~2016: Global monthly IP traffic ~96 exabytes/month (combined fixed + mobile).

• 2021: ~ 278 exabytes/month.

• 2022: Cisco forecasted ~396 exabytes/month.

• 2025 forecast: IBISWorld (~409 exabytes/month) or possibly more depending on growth in mobile/IoT/cloud.

Thus, over roughly a decade (2015-2025), global monthly IP traffic has increased by ~4-5× (depending on which baseline and forecast one uses).

Translating to per-minute:

• 2016: ~2.2 exabytes/day → ~1.5-2 petabytes/min (approx; using 96 exabytes/month → 3.2 exabytes/day → ~2.2 petabytes/min)

• 2021: ~278 exabytes/month → ~9.2 exabytes/day → ~6.4 petabytes/min

• 2025 forecast: ~409 exabytes/month → ~13.6 exabytes/day → ~9-10 petabytes/min

So roughly, the data per minute has grown from ~2 petabytes/min in mid-2010s to ~9-10 petabytes/min by mid-2020s — a ~4-5× rise.

Regional Differences & Platform Dominance

Traffic isn’t evenly distributed across the globe, either in terms of volume per capita or in usage patterns.

• North America and Western Europe: High fixed broadband penetration, high fixed traffic per user, lots of video streaming, high resolutions, substantial cloud usage. Faster broadband means more data per user.

• Asia Pacific: Very large population, rapidly increasing internet access, rising mobile broadband usage, quicker adoption of video, especially short-form/social video. Large parts of mobile traffic.

• Middle East & Africa: Lower baseline per-capita usage but very high growth rates. As infrastructure improves, mobile first models dominate, often with constraints on fixed broadband, so mobile video, chat, and social are key drivers.

• Latin America: Similar patterns to Asia/EMEA in many ways—growing mobile penetration, increasing fixed broadband, increasing video adoption.

Platforms that dominate traffic:

• YouTube: Tremendous volume of content uploaded (500+ hours per minute) and watched globally.

• Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, etc.: Major on-demand video streaming services carrying large volumes, especially in fixed broadband networks.

• TikTok / Instagram Reels / Shorts: Short video with high re-view / share rates means repeated streaming and high bandwidth in aggregate.

• Messaging apps (WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram): enormous in terms of number of messages/multimedia shares, voice/video calls, etc. For example, WhatsApp: ~140+ billion messages daily; ~97 million messages per minute.

• Search / Browsing (Google, Bing, etc.): huge number of queries per minute (5.9 million Google searches per minute globally, per recent stats).

Minute-by-Minute Examples: What Happens in One Internet Minute (Circa 2024-2025)

Putting together multiple sources gives a feel of what “one minute” of internet usage looks like (global aggregate):

• Over 9 petabytes of data moving through the internet.

• ~ 97 million WhatsApp messages sent.

• ~ 3.4 million YouTube videos being watched.

• ~ 5.9 million Google searches.

• ~ 251 million emails sent.

These are partial slices, of course; they don’t fully sum to the total universe of data flows in that minute (such as background syncing, system updates, cloud services, IoT, streaming etc.).

Looking Forward: Projections and What Might Drive Future Growth

What’s coming next—both in terms of where the growth will continue, and what may accelerate or constrain it?

1. Higher resolutions & immersive media
   As more households/devices support 4K, 8K video, VR/AR content, volumetric video, etc., each video stream carries more data. Compression and streaming efficiency help but can’t offset raw data increase when resolution jumps.

2. Cloud, Edge & IoT proliferation
   More devices connected (IoT, sensors, smart home, wearables, vehicles) generate telemetry, video, audio, backups, which may be continuous. Edge computing means more data being transmitted, at higher bandwidths, over more varied networks.

3. Live / interactive video / user generated content
   Live streaming (social media, games, events) demands lower latency, consistent throughput. UGC (user-generated content) remains a key part of volume, especially video (short-form or longer).

4. Gaming & streaming games
   Cloud gaming (e.g. streaming whole games instead of rendering locally), augmented/virtual reality gaming, more realistic graphics increase data per session. Also patches / updates for games are huge.

5. AI / ML / Generative content
   Generative AI models, large model inference (especially multimodal) and applications that send back large amounts of data (video, image) could increase traffic. Also data used in training and updating models (though some of that is internal to data centres). If more real-time AI services are used over the internet, they may boost traffic.

6. More broadband & 5G penetration
   Faster networks tend to enable heavier usage: users with slow mobile may avoid streaming 4K; with fiber or high speed WiFi + 5G, they are more likely to download, stream, upload, etc.

7. Policy, infrastructure, regulation, and efficiency
   How well caching, CDNs, compression, adaptive bitrate streaming, edge caches, peer-to-peer or peer-assisted delivery get deployed matters. Also policy around spectrum, net neutrality, data localization, etc., may impact traffic flows.

Forecasts such as Ericsson’s suggest that mobile data traffic will continue growing steadily; Cisco’s and IBISWorld’s monthly exabyte forecasts show modest increases year-to-year but still significant cumulative growth.

Challenges, Caveats, and What We Don’t Know Well

Whenever dealing with “global per minute” estimates, there are several reasons to be cautious:

• Many statistics are forecasts, not measured; measured data (from ISPs, IXPs) is patchy and often delayed.

• Definitions differ: what counts as “Internet traffic”? Fixed vs mobile vs internal/enterprise traffic vs “dark Internet” vs IoT telemetry vs inter-data center transfers etc. Some studies count IP traffic only; some include streaming within closed networks.

• Busy vs average minute: Peaks (e.g. during major events, prime time TV shows, etc.) can far exceed the average minute.

• Geographic skew: Much of traffic is concentrated in certain countries / regions; global averages smooth out big disparities.

• Efficiency improvements (compression, caching) can temper growth, but growth in usage, resolution, frequency often outpace those improvements.

Summary & Big Picture

Putting it all together:

• The world is now consuming on the order of 9-10 petabytes of internet traffic per minute on average (2025 forecasts).

• That’s up from roughly 2 petabytes/min in the mid-2010s, showing ~4-5× growth in about a decade.

• Video (especially streaming + user generated content) remains the dominant single driver of that traffic, with gaming, cloud services, messaging, and other activities contributing significantly.

• Short-form video, live streaming, and higher resolutions are pushing growth steeply. Messaging apps are multiplying traffic by adding media, voice/video.

• Regions differ: developed areas generating large per-capita traffic; emerging regions contributing primarily through mobile, growing rapidly.

• Future growth is almost certain, though the rate is subject to how fast infrastructure, network tech, and efficiencies can keep up.

Conclusion: A Minute in the Life of the Internet

Think for a moment: every 60 seconds, the world watches millions of YouTube videos, searches millions of times, sends hundreds of millions of messages, streams petabytes of video, downloads patches and syncs clouds, and more.

That level of data flow was unimaginable twenty years ago. Yet, with every new resolution, device, user, and service, the volume grows. We’ve entered an era where minute-by-minute is a useful unit for understanding scale—not just the daily or monthly totals.

The sky isn’t falling (yet) — infrastructure continues to improve (fiber, 5G, CDNs, edge computing). But each minute, each new capability, nudges the baseline upward. The question isn’t whether data consumption will continue increasing; it’s how high, how fast, and whether we build networks, policies, and efficiency to support it sustainably.