25+ Impressive Big Data Statistics for 2021

In today’s piece, we’ll focus all our attention on some of the most mind-boggling big data statistics. For anyone who’s new to the concept of big data, TechJury has prepared a brief intro on the topic.

Big data refers to enormous data sets gathered from numerous sources. These data sets cannot be collected, stored, or processed using any of the existing conventional tools due to their quantity and complexity.

So, there is a variety of tools used to analyze big data – NoSQL databases, Hadoop, and Spark – to name a few. With the help of big data analytics tools, we can gather different types of data from the most versatile sources – digital media, web services, business apps, machine log data, etc.

Big Time Big Data Statistics

• The big data analytics market is set to reach $103 billion by 2023.
• Poor data quality costs the US economy up to $3.1 trillion yearly.
• In 2020, every person generated 1.7 megabytes in just a second.
• Internet users generate about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day.
• 95% of businesses cite the need to manage unstructured data as a problem for their business.
• 97.2% of organizations are investing in big data and AI.
• Using big data, Netflix saves $1 billion per year on customer retention.

Now, why is big data important? Once analyzed, this data helps in a multitude of ways. In healthcare, it helps avoid preventable diseases by detecting them in their early stages. It is also immensely useful in the banking sector, where it aids in recognizing illegal activities such as money laundering. Finally, in meteorology, it helps study global warming.

Alright! Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s check out some interesting statistics about big data.

Big Data 2021 Statistics

But, can data indeed be considered as the new gold? Let’s find out together as we surf through some of the most impressive Big Data statistics for 2020.

1. Google gets over 3.5 billion searches daily.

(Source: Internet Live Stats)

Google remains the highest shareholder of the search engine market, with 87.35% of the global search engine market share as of 2021. Big Data stats for 2021 show that this translates into 1.2 trillion searches yearly, and more than 40,000 search queries per second.

What’s more, 15% of all new Google searches have never been typed before! So, it is not a case of repeating the same set of information. Instead, more unique sets of data are generated continually through Google daily.

2. WhatsApp users exchange up to 65 billion messages daily.

(Source: Connectiva Systems)

Did you know that WhatsApp is the most popular and most downloaded messaging app worldwide?

That’s what a user base of 2 billion people gets you.

Did you also know that WhatsApp is now available in 180 countries and 60 different languages worldwide? 

How about the fact that 5 million businesses are actively using the WhatsApp Business app to connect with their customers? Or the fact that there are over 1 billion WhatsApp groups worldwide? 

Now you know.

3. In 2020, every person generated 1.7 megabytes per second

(Source: IBM)

Before Big Data analytics became a fully developed idea, companies were storing tons of info in their databases, not knowing what to do with them. According to global statistics on Big Data technologies, on average, poor data quality costs businesses worldwide anywhere between $9.7 million and $14.2 million yearly. For countries like the US, which operate in a highly data-driven economy, that figure could rise into trillions. 

Poor data quality can lead to poor decision making or wrong business strategy. This will, in turn, bring about low productivity and create mistrust between customers and a brand, thereby causing that brand to lose reputation in the market. That’s why BI tools and data visualization software are vital for business success in 2021.

4. 95% of businesses cite the need to manage unstructured data as a problem for their business.

(Source: Forbes) 

In a digitally powered economy like ours, only those with the right form of data can successfully navigate the market, make future predictions, and adjust their business to fit market trends. Unfortunately, most of the data we generate today is unstructured, which means it comes in different forms, sizes, and even shapes. Hence, it is difficult and costly to manage and analyze, which explains why it is a big problem for most companies.

5. 45% of businesses worldwide are running at least one of their Big Data workloads in the cloud.

(Source: ZD Net)

According to statistics about Big Data in cloud computing, the cloud is one of the most recent technological trends that is taking the world by storm. It eliminates the need for organizations to purchase and maintain costly computing hardware, pay for hosting, and develop the software needed for the day-to-day operation of servers. 

Although the cloud houses 67% of enterprise infrastructure, only a small percentage of businesses are currently utilizing it for Big Data operations.

6. 80-90% of the data we generate today is unstructured.

(Source: CIO)

According to Big Data facts, in today’s world, consumers want to have the same sublime experience when dealing with a brand. Regardless of the device they are using, they always expect the same quality experience.

A user can contact a company through social media using a PC, surf the company website on mobile, make a purchase using a tablet, and contact customer service via email. As such, all data are generated from the same person but come in different forms.

Big Data Industry Statistics

While some industries have gone big on Big Data, a few others are still playing small. Let us find out which industries represent some of the most prominent investors:

7. The market of Big Data analytics in banking could rise to $62.10 billion by 2025.

(Source: Soccer Nurds) 

According to statistics about Big Data in banking, the global banking sector is already incorporating Big Data analytics into its infrastructure and is doing so quickly.

• As of 2013, a whopping 64% of the global financial sector had already incorporated Big Data as a part of their infrastructure.
• In 2015, the industry had already reached a market size of $12 billion.
• Fast forward to 2019, and the Big Data banking analytics market had hit $29.87 billion, which was set to grow at a CAGR of 12.97% between 2020-2025.

Data generated by banks worldwide can offer improved customer services, help bankers create new and personalized offers for their customers, and also help manage risks better. All these can culminate in improved performances across the global banking sector.

8. The market of Big Data analytics in healthcare could be worth $67.82 billion by 2025.

(Source: Globe News Wire)

Healthcare is one industry that generates lots of data daily. The more data generated about a particular diagnosis, the easier it becomes for healthcare professionals to deal with them.

Big Data can bring about: 

• Reduced healthcare costs for individuals 
• Better treatment capacity of healthcare professionals 
• Effective avoidance of preventable disease 
• Prediction of epidemic outbreaks
• An improvement in the overall quality of life.

According to statistics about Big Data in healthcare, the global Big Data healthcare analytics market was worth over $14.7 billion in 2018. By the end of 2019, it was already worth $22.6 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 20%.

9.  According to big data stats, cyber scams have gone up 400% at the start of the pandemic.

(Source: Reed Smith)

No doubt, cybercriminals have no shame in their game.

They’re taking full advantage of the confusion arising from the pandemic to rip off people. Security researchers have also noticed tons of scams asking for money from desperate people in exchange for vaccines and COVID-19 cures.

The manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industries face most targets from malware installations. The most notable download campaigns are from threat groups like TA505.

Individual users and company heads need to be aware of fake information on the internet and put up the necessary data protection measures.

General Big Data Statistics

Now that you know the latest data and how big data affects the industry, let’s dive deeper.

10. Data creation will grow to more than 180 zettabytes by 2025.

(Source: Statista)

Big data growth statistics reveal that data creation will be over 180 zettabytes by 2025. That will be about 118.8 zettabytes more than in 2020.

The reason for the spike is that the pandemic has triggered an increase in demand for remote learning, working, and entertainment.

Storage for this data will grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19.2% during the forecast period. That’s a big change considering that users only stored 2% of the data in 2020.

11. Data interactions went up by 5000% between 2010 and 2020.

(Source: Forbes)

Big data stats show that the creation, capturing, copying, and consumption of data went up by a whopping 5000% between 2010 and 2020. To be more precise, data usage increased from 1.2 trillion gigabytes to almost 60 trillion gigabytes.

The vast increase came as more companies adopted work-from-home environments. The shift had to do with the demand for richer data sets like videos during virtual meetings.

12. Today it would take a person approximately 181 million years to download all the data from the internet.

(Source: Unicorn Insights)

An interesting piece of information about big data comes from Unicorn Insights that answered the question of how long would it take to download all the data from the internet. The source used the following values: 0.55 zettabytes for all the information on the internet, and 44Mbps as average download speed. However, since these big data statistics have changed, we redid the calculation with 33 zettabytes of data and an average download speed of 46Mbps. The result we got was around 181.3 million years. Impressive, right?

13. In 2012, only 0.5% of all data was analyzed.

(Source: The Guardian)

The vast quantity of big data has no value unless it is tagged or analyzed. So, the question is how much data is that? According to IDC’s Digital Universe Study from 2012, only 0.5% of data is analyzed, while the percentage of tagged data is a bit higher at 3%. By further researching these data analytics statistics we discovered that not all data has the potential to bring value.

In 2017, the Economist claimed that data replaced oil as the world’s most valuable source. There were many sources that compared data to oil while neglecting one big difference between the two. Unlike oil, data can be easily extracted, and the supplies are endless. What’s more, unlike oil, we can use data multiple times and get new insights from it. The comparison between oil and data leads us to the conclusion that we should collect and store as much data as possible. However, if we only do that, without tagging or analyzing the information we have, its value will be far less significant than that of oil.

According to big data statistics from IDC, in 2012 only 22% of all the data had the potential for analysis. This includes data from different fields such as surveillance, entertainment, and social media, etc. The same source said that by 2020, the percentage of useful data, i.e., the information that has the potential for analysis, would jump to 37%.

14. Internet users generate about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day.

(Source: Data Never Sleeps 5.0)

With the estimated amount of data we had in 2020 (40 zettabytes), we have to ask ourselves what’s our part in creating all that data. So, how much data is generated every day? 2.5 quintillion bytes. Now, this number seems rather high, but if we look at it in zettabytes, i.e., 0.0025 zettabytes this doesn’t seem all that much. When we add to that the fact that in 2021 we should have 40 zettabytes, we’re generating data at a regular pace.

However, there are other ways to look at the amount of data we generate on a daily basis. 2.5 quintillion bytes are equal to the number of all ants on the planet multiplied by 100. Moreover, with one quintillion pennies, we could cover the entire surface of the earth 1.5 times. With 2.5 quintillion of them – five times. It’s really fascinating what we can learn from big data facts and figures. 2018 was quite interesting big data-wise, and we expect 2019 to be just as exciting and data-rich.

15. Internet users spent a total of 1.2 billion years online.

(Source: Digital)

Just imagine how much data internet users can generate in a million years, let alone 1.2 billion years?

Now, before we continue, let us explain how we got to this conclusion. There are 4.39 billion internet users. According to the latest Digital report, internet users spent 6 hours and 42 minutes on the internet which clearly illustrates rapid big data growth. So, if each of the 4.39 billion internet users spent 6 hours and 42 minutes online on a daily basis, we’ve spent 1.2 billion years online.

16. Social media accounts for 33% of the total time spent online.

(Source: Global Web Index)

Before we give you some numbers on how users generate data on Facebook and Twitter, we wanted to paint a picture of general social media usage first. Global Web Index published a piece on the average number of social accounts. Comparing the number of social accounts throughout the years, we got some interesting social media big data statistics. Namely, in 2012, social media users had three social accounts on average, while that number rose to 7 today.

Apart from the rise of the multi-networking trend, the average time users spend on social media platforms also saw a significant increase. In 2012, digital users spent an hour and a half filling up their spare time on social media sites, while today, the average time they spent on social networks is at 2 hours and 24 minutes.

Lastly, the same source discovered that out of the total time digital users spend online, 33% is reserved for social media. This is no doubt a large part of why the data growth statistics are what they are today. Apart from social media, 16% of the time users spend online goes to online TV and streaming, and another 16% to music streaming. Online press takes a 13% share of total online time, whereas the remaining 22% of the time is reserved for other online activities.

17. There are 2.80 billion monthly active Facebook users.

(Source: Oberlo)

Facebook big data statistics show that there are close to three billion active users every month. That is half a billion more than in 2019, which is also a considerable increase from 2012’s two billion.

From a daily usage perspective, the giant networking site has about 1.8 billion visitors. The data includes that of WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook.

It’s no wonder digital marketers can’t ignore the site. Besides its extensive user base, it also has useful tools like pages or groups that make it easy for them to sell.

18. Twitter users send over half a million tweets every minute.

(Source: Internet Live Stats, Domo)

Facebook’s internet data usage stats are only the tip of the iceberg. Social data coming from Domo’s Data Never Sleeps 6.0 report gives us some insights about user activity on Twitter as well. The number of tweets per minute increased from 456,000 in 2017 to 473,400 in 2018 and finally to 528,780 in 2020.

We also looked at the Internet Live stats to see how many tweets were sent last year. In just a little less than 1.5 months Twitter users sent more than 30 billion tweets. Taking into account that it took Twitter the first three years of its existence to reach the billionth tweet, the numbers we have today show us just how much this social network has grown over the years.

Furthermore, Twitter is one of the big companies that use big data and artificial intelligence. Stats and facts about Twitter show us that not only does the social media network use AI for their image cropping tools, but for preventing inappropriate content as well.

19. 97.2% of organizations are investing in big data and AI.

(Source: New Vantage)

New Vantage published its Executives Survey with a primary focus on big data and artificial intelligence. The study recorded the executives’ answers from approximately 60 Fortune 1000 companies including Motorola, American Express, NASDAQ, etc. Aside from indicating a strong presence of big data in leading companies, the New Vantage study also answered the question: How much do companies spend on data analytics? So, here’s what we’ve learned.

62.5% of participants said their organization appointed a Chief Data Officer (CDO), which indicates a fivefold increase since 2012 (12%). Additionally, a record number of organizations participating in the study have invested in big data and artificial intelligence initiatives at 97.2%. The highest percentage of organizations (60.3%) invested under $50 million. Nearly one-third of participants (27%) said their companies’ cumulative investments in big data and AI fall into the range between $50 million and $550 million. Lastly, only 12.7% of participants said their companies invested more than $500 million.

So, is big data the future? If we focus on the big data investments from companies such as Goldman Sachs, IBM, and Bank of America, we could answer this question with a “yes.”

20. Using big data, Netflix saves $1 billion per year on customer retention.

(Source: Statista, Inside Big Data)

Today, many companies use big data to expand and enhance their businesses, and one of the most popular video streaming services – Netflix, is a perfect example of that. The digital users’ favorite streaming service, Netflix had more than 180 million subscribers in 2020. Now, the California-based company can help us answer the question: what are the benefits of big data? Well, one of the benefits of using big data in streaming services is customer retention as a result of lower subscription cancelation rates. Netflix has a strategy to tie its audience to their seats, and big data is a big part of that strategy.

Some of the information Netflix collects includes searches, ratings, re-watched programs, and so on. This data helps Netflix provide its users with personalized recommendations, show videos similar to the ones they’ve already watched, or suggest various titles from a specific genre. Plus, we have to admit that the company’s “Continue Watching” feature improves the user experience a lot.

While going through various big data statistics, we discovered that back in 2009 Netflix invested $1 million in enhancing its recommendation algorithm. What’s even more interesting is that the company’s budget for technology and development stood at $651 million in 2015. In 2018, the budget reached $1.3 billion.

As for the $1 billion in savings from customer retention, this was just a rough estimate Carlos Uribe-Gomez and Neil Hunt made in 2016. We believe that number is significantly higher now, as, among other reasons, Netflix spent over $12 billion on content in 2018, and that number reached $17 billion in 2020.

21. What is big data and analytics market worth? $49 billion, says Wikibon.

(Source: Wikibon)

We’ve already covered how Netflix benefited from big data, but that’s only the beginning. Big data found its place in various industries as it helps detect patterns, consumer trends, and enhance decision making, among other things. So, the question is how much is the big data industry worth, and what can we expect in the next couple of years? In their 2018 Big Data Analytics Trends and Forecast Wikibon answered these questions.

So, how much is big data worth? According to Wikibon, the big data analytics market (BDA) is expected to reach $49 billion with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11%. So, each year, the market will gain $7 billion in value. As a result of this forecast, the BDA market should reach $103 billion by 2023.

22. In 2020, the big data market grew by 14%.

(Source: Statista)

While exploring global data market growth forecast from Statista, we discovered that big data had the highest growth rate in 2012 (61%) and 2013 (60%). While going through big data growth statistics, 2018 saw big data market growth of 20%, and in 2019, the big data market grew by 17%. As Statista points out, the market’s growth will decrease over time, and reach 7% from 2025 to 2027.

23. Job listings for data science and analytics reached around 2.7 million by 2020.

(Source: Forbes)

One of the biggest problems in the big data industry is the lack of people with deep analytical skills. Looking at the data growth statistics, it’s clear that there are not enough people who are trained to work with big data. According to RJMetrics, in 2015, there were between 11,400 and 19,400 data scientists worldwide. McKinsey calculated that in 2018 there should be approximately 2.8 million people with analytical talent. On the other hand, the number of jobs for data science and analytics was expected to reach 2.7 million in 2020. So, there’s a big gap between demand in data science and analytics talent.

24. In 2020, every person generated 1.7 megabytes in just a second.

(Source: Domo)

If we assume that the big data growth calculations from Domo are accurate, every person on the planet generated 146,880 GB a day. If we take into account that the world population will reach 8 billion people, it’s easy to conclude the amount of data we’ll create on a daily basis will rise dramatically. Moreover, IDC forecasts that we will be producing 165 zettabytes per year by 2025.

Now, let’s jump to 2020 technology predictions and future trends related to big data.

25. Automated analytics are vital to big data.

(Source: Flat World Solutions)

One of the many predictions in the big data field is that automating processes behind frameworks such as Hadoop and Spark will be inevitable in just a year from now. Another prediction relates to smart wearables, which will help accelerate big data growth. We can also expect machine learning to develop further in the near future. Combined with data analytics, we expect it to create predictive models to forecast the future with an even higher level of accuracy. Lastly, Flat World Solutions calculated that businesses could gain $430 billion in 2020 if they opt for a data-driven approach.

We hope we succeeded in our quest to find some of the most impressive big data statistics. One of the key takeaways from this topic is that the big data market is quickly expanding and with every passing day we have more information. The ultimate goal is not about collecting as much data as possible though, but about getting value from the data we collect.

Big Data Trends

Let us have a look at some statistics on Big Data trends to find out what the future holds:

26. The number of IoT devices could rise to 41.6 billion by 2025.

(Source: IDC) 

Every second, all over the world, there are 127 new devices connected to the internet. These connected devices produce 5 quintillion bytes of data daily, which could amount to 79.4 Zettabytes of data by 2025. 

IoT devices perform various functions, depending on what they are designed for and the kind of information they are meant to collect. From fitness devices, down to sensors, security systems, the IoT helps industries enhance their functionality and increase their market reach.

27. Worldwide spending on Big Data analytics solutions will be worth over $274.3 billion in 2022.

(Source: Business Wire)

According to statistics about Big Data in business, digital transformation and technological advancements remain the chief pioneers of increased Big Data spending. With so much competition in every industry, businesses need to constantly innovate to stay relevant in the marketplace. Big Data analytics provide just the right amount of information that industry experts need to make informed decisions. These decisions can move a business forward by accurately identifying a market trend that can potentially improve business revenue. 

As at the end of 2019, worldwide spending on Big Data was already worth $180 billion, and it is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.2% between 2020 and 2022. Reports have it that IT purchases, hardware purchases, and business services could receive the highest spending on Big Data analytics.

28. The ratio between unique and replicated data will be 1:10 by 2024.

(Source: IDC)

That ratio was 1:9 in 2020.

COVID-19 has made it harder to create new unique data. However, the global data sphere will experience growth from copying and consumption in the coming years. By 2024, it will increase by a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 26%. 

29. Data science jobs will increase by around 28% by 2026.

(Source: Towards Data Science)

The 2021 technology predictions show that jobs in the data science field will increase by nearly 30% by 2026. That’s 11.5 million new jobs! The new roles will close the gap on the low supply of professionals in a sector where demand is high.

Conclusion

Big Data is and will continue to be a force to be reckoned with in this digital age. Big brands and industry experts know this. Business leaders who tap into its many benefits will remain ahead of their competitors in the long run. Don’t hesitate, act!