Worldwide, there were over 18,000 hours of internet shutdowns in 2019, costing the global economy over eight billion U.S. dollars. According to recent data, Iraq was the country that was most affected by internet blackouts and social media shutdowns - online users in the country endured a total of 263 hours of shutdowns, which affected 18.8 million users and had an economic impact of approximately 2.32 billion U.S. dollars. In comparison, internet shutdowns in India occurred around 4,196 times and cost the local economy 1.33 billion U.S. dollars. Online shutdowns and blackouts are generally seen as an indicator of low internet freedom.
Number of affected users and economic cost of internet shutdowns in selected countries in 2019
Calculations include social media shutdowns and internet blackouts. These types of internet disruption are defined as follows:
Internet blackouts: where access to the internet is completely cut off. This extreme measure cannot be directly circumvented.
Social media shutdowns: where access to popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter or YouTube have been blocked. These can typically be circumvented by using a VPN.
[1] Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh only.
[2] 338 hours of specified duration applied to Papua region only.
[3] Duration/total cost figures refer to 2019 impact only and do not take into consideration preceding months of restrictions over 2018.
[4] No data available regarding the number of affected internet users.
*Duration: 12 months, billed annually, single license
Yes, let me download!
...and make my research life easier.
Exclusive Corporate feature
This feature is limited to our corporate solutions.
Please contact us to get started with full access to dossiers, forecasts, studies and international data.
Corporate Account
Statista Accounts:
Access All Statistics. Starting from $708 / Year
Basic Account
Get to know the platform
You only have access to basic statistics.
Premium Account
Your perfect start with Statista
Instant access to 1m statistics
Download in XLS, PDF & PNG format
Detailed references
$59 / Month *
Corporate Account
Full access
Corporate solution including all features.
* All products require an annual contract.
Prices do not include sales tax.
Statistics on "Internet usage in the BRIC countries"
Statista Accounts:
Access All Statistics. Starting from $708 / Year
Learn more about how Statista can support your business.
Top10VPN. (January 7, 2020). Number of affected users and economic cost of internet shutdowns in selected countries in 2019 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved February 20, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095831/economic-cost-internet-shutdowns/
Top10VPN. "Number of affected users and economic cost of internet shutdowns in selected countries in 2019." Chart. January 7, 2020. Statista. Accessed February 20, 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095831/economic-cost-internet-shutdowns/
Top10VPN. (2020). Number of affected users and economic cost of internet shutdowns in selected countries in 2019. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: February 20, 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095831/economic-cost-internet-shutdowns/
Top10VPN. "Number of Affected Users and Economic Cost of Internet Shutdowns in Selected Countries in 2019." Statista, Statista Inc., 7 Jan 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095831/economic-cost-internet-shutdowns/
Top10VPN, Number of affected users and economic cost of internet shutdowns in selected countries in 2019 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095831/economic-cost-internet-shutdowns/ (last visited February 20, 2020)
We use cookies to personalize contents and ads, offer social media features, and analyze access to our website. In your browser settings you can configure or disable this, respectively, and can delete any already placed cookies. For details, please see your browser’s Help section (by pressing F1). Please see our privacy statement for details about how we use data.
