At the end of 2024, Internet users worldwide spent an average of six hours and 38 minutes per day browsing online, seven minutes more than at the beginning of the year but two minutes less than in the same period the previous year.
With the average person sleeping seven to eight hours per night, many people spend nearly as much time online as they do asleep. Still, some countries were high above this figure.
According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, South Africans and Brazilians spent the most time online daily, at more than nine hours. Eight other countries were also way above the global average. Here`s a closer look at the rankings.
In 2024, South Africans spent an average of nine hours and 37 minutes online daily, three hours more than the global average. Over a year, that translates to 3 420 hours or 142 full days spent online per person. Brazil was the only other country close to this figure, with an average of nine hours and nine minutes spent online daily.
Many other fast-growing digital markets also ranked high. For example, the Philippines, Chile, and Colombia rounded out the top five, each with roughly eight hours and 45 minutes of daily online activity. Argentina, Russia, and Malaysia also had high daily Internet usage of eight-plus hours or half of an average person`s daily awake time.
The survey also showed that the US was the only high-income, developed country ranking above the global average. Last year, Americans spent six hours and 40 minutes online daily, half an hour more than Canadians and an hour more than Chinese, British, Italians or Spaniards.
The digital powerhouse Japan was probably the biggest surprise on this ranking. Despite being a global leader in innovation, with widespread 5G, fibre optic internet and smart cities, Japan ranked among the countries with the lowest daily internet usage. In 2024, the Japanese spent an average of four hours and nine minutes online daily, two and a half hours less than the global average.
Denmark was the closest to this figure, with an average daily Internet usage of five hours and 10 minutes.