The People Most Likely to "Borrow" Their Neighbor's WiFi

According to data collected by Statista’s Global Consumer Survey, 18 percent of Dutch online respondents said that they mainly access their internet at home via their neighbor or landlord’s wireless connection. This is more than double the rate of people in the other selected countries, with neighboring Germany and France both at seven percent. According to the survey, only 38 percent of respondents in the Netherlands had access to broadband and an additional 16 percent a mobile connection via smartphone or tablet in 2023.

Meanwhile, the United States and the United Kingdom had lower rates of adults using their neighbors WiFi, at four percent and two percent, respectively. The U.S. also had a relatively low share of people with broadband, at 38 percent, while the UK’s was higher at 68 percent.

While the reasons for this discrepancy are not fully clear from the data alone, it’s interesting to note that breaking into an encrypted WiFi is not a criminal offense in the Netherlands, even though it is in other countries. Breaking into a computer, however, is.