Internet outages cost $43 billion a day

Updated on: 15 November 2023

Paulina Okunytė
Journalist

Telecommunication tower — Image from Shutterstock

Internet outages disrupt countless sectors, underscoring the importance of stable internet access as a basic human right.

In the event of an internet outage, the world's largest economies would face significant losses of $43 billion a day, with the United States and China making up almost half of the sum between them with $21 billion in losses.

Internet outage losses — Source: AtlasVPN

According to AtlasVPN, the United States would face huge losses of around $11 billion for a single day without online access. China is estimated to lose nearly $10 billion. The United Kingdom would lose approximately $3 billion, and Japan is predicted to suffer around $2.7 billion in damage. For Germany, an internet outage would potentially cost $1.5 billion.

The smallest losses are estimated for Oceanic islands such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Micronesia, with minor losses of no more than $50K.

Economic loss for internet blackouts

Estimates show that economic losses from internet outages are growing. Internet blackouts cost the global economy $24 billion in 2022 and $5.62 billion in 2021.

According to Top10VPN, Russia topped the list for losses, sustaining an estimated $21.59 billion in lost revenue amid 7,407 hours of blackouts that affected more than three-quarters of its population.

India lost $184.3 million due to government-imposed blackouts that saw internet services denied to more than 120 million people – less than a tenth of its vast population – of whom around half do not have access to the web. Among other countries that lost the most are Iran, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, and Uzbekistan.

Authoritarian regimes often use internet blackouts as a tool to repress opposition, control the population, and, in some cases, as a cover for human rights violations.