From our work to our social life, everything we do in our day-to-day lives revolves around our connection to the internet. But what happens when it goes down and how much does losing connection cost us?
When our key social apps go down, like Facebook or Twitter, the frustration is felt worldwide. But how would we feel without access to any aspect of the internet? Many of us would be lost in the face of a worldwide internet outage and the monetary loss for many could be huge!
Interested to find out the potential financial loss of an internet blackout, Merchant Machine has taken an in-depth look into how much money different countries around the world would lose if there was no connection, as well as the amount online companies could lose every hour the internet is out.
A 24-hour internet outage would cost the world’s economy £37 billion
Just one hour without the internet would have a detrimental effect. Our research found that 60 minutes without connection to cyberspace would result in the world’s economy suffering a £1.5 billion loss. This figure increases to £15 billion after 10-hours and to £37 billion after 24-hours.
But where in the world would an internet blackout have the biggest economic impact?
1. United States
With over 310 million internet users, the United States comes in first place as the country at risk of facing the biggest financial loss due to an internet shutdown. Home to Silicon Valley, which is where many start-ups, payment processing companies and global technology companies reside, a 24-hour shutdown would cost America over £5 billion.
Number of internet users : 312,320,000
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £221,634,604
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £1,108,173,019
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £2,216,346,037
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £5,319,230,489
2. China
Home to around 1.4 billion people, 904 million of China’s population are using the internet. During a 10-hour internet outage, this East Asian country is expected to lose £1.7 billion. A full day without the net would result in £4 billion lost.
Number of internet users: 904,080,566
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £178,731,615
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £893,658,077
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £1,787,316,155
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £4,289,558,772
3. United Kingdom
Should the world experience an internet outage, the UK is set to be the third biggest loser. For just one hour without the internet, the country’s economy would suffer a massive loss of £68 million, due things like the effect on online payment systems and loss of the ability to use many card readers in physical retail settings.
Number of internet users: 65,001,016
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £68,830,150
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £344,150,750
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £688,301,499
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £1,651,923,599
4. Japan
Japan has over 116 million users surfing the web. If the country was to lose connection for over 5 hours, the financial loss to the economy would be a whopping £288 million.
Number of internet users: 116,505,120
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £57,751,064
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £288,755,316
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £577,510,633
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £1,386,025,519
5. Spain
Spain, home to over 42 million internet users, ranks as the fifth-worst financially impacted country if a cyber crash were to happen. The Spanish economy would suffer a £1.1 billion hit over a day.
Number of internet users: 42,400,756
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £46,964,862
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £234,824,309
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £469,648,617
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £1,127,156,680
6. Netherlands
Named as one of the happiest countries in the world, the Netherlands is expected to experience a big loss if the internet were to shut down. A 10-hour internet outage would result in a £325 million loss.
Number of internet users: 15,877,494
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £32,596,505
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £162,982,525
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £325,965,050
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £782,316,121
7. Germany
With over 83 million citizens, Germany is the second most populated country in Europe. The German economy would suffer a massive £155 million loss if there was a 5-hour internet shutdown, impacting over 77 million of its residents who are online.
Number of internet users: 77,794,405
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £31,135,651
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £155,678,257
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £311,356,513
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £747,255,631
8. India
Located in South Asia, India has over 755 million citizens online. For just one hour without the internet, the country’s economy would suffer a massive loss of £30.7 million.
Number of internet users: 755,820,000
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £30,788,929
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £153,944,643
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £307,889,286
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £738,934,286
9. Switzerland
In second to last place is Switzerland. Landlocked between Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, a 10-hour internet outage would result in a £269 million loss for Switzerland.
Number of internet users: 7,942,864
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £26,932,957
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £134,664,782
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £269,329,564
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £646,390,954
10. South Korea
With over 49 million internet users, South Korea is in 10th place as the country at risk of facing the biggest financial loss due to an internet shutdown. A 24-hour internet blackout would cost the country over £622 million.
Number of internet users: 49,421,084
Cost of 1 hour of internet outage: £25,920,716
Cost of 5 hours of internet outage: £129,603,578
Cost of 10 hours of internet outage: £259,207,156
Cost of 24 hours of internet outage: £622,097,175
Amazon would lose £32 million an hour during an internet outage
Countries’ economies are not the only ones that would be affected by an internet shutdown. We have taken a look at some of the biggest online companies in the world to reveal who would suffer the biggest financial loss in the face of an internet blackout – and how much they could expect to lose.
Available in 16 countries and selling more than 12 million different products, it’s no surprise that the world’s largest online marketplace platform Amazon has come out on top as the company that would lose the biggest revenue during an internet outage. We estimate that, if the internet was shut down around the world for just 24 hours, this would cost Amazon a tremendous £772 million – around $32 million per hour and just over half million dollars per minute (£536,111).
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, comes in second and the Chinese e-commerce website JD.com rounds out the top three.
| Company | Revenue (Year) | Revenue loss per day | Revenue loss per an hour | Revenue loss per a minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | £281,780,000,000.00 | £772,000,000.00 | £32,166,666.67 | £536,111.11 |
| Alphabet | £133,225,000,000.00 | £365,000,000.00 | £15,208,333.33 | £253,472.22 |
| JD.com | £83,439,000,000.00 | £228,600,000.00 | £9,525,000.00 | £158,750.00 |
| £62,750,800,000.00 | £171,920,000.00 | £7,163,333.33 | £119,388.89 | |
| Alibaba | £40,990,960,000.00 | £112,304,000.00 | £4,679,333.33 | £77,988.89 |
| Tencent | £39,478,400,000.00 | £108,160,000.00 | £4,506,666.67 | £75,111.11 |
| Suning.com | £27,783,800,000.00 | £76,120,000.00 | £3,171,666.67 | £52,861.11 |
| ByteDance | £25,550,000,000.00 | £70,000,000.00 | £2,916,666.67 | £48,611.11 |
| Netflix | £18,242,700,000.00 | £49,980,000.00 | £2,082,500.00 | £34,708.33 |
| Paypal | £15,658,500,000.00 | £42,900,000.00 | £1,787,500.00 | £29,791.67 |
Our reliance on the internet means that even a second without it could result in a huge economical impact that would be felt all around the world. As this dependence increases, we felt it was important to discover just what effect an internet outage would have on the world.
Methodology
To work out the economic cost of the internet going down around the world, we used Netblocks.org’s tool to calculate the cost of 1 hour, 5 hours, 10 hours and a day without the internet.
In order to find out how much companies would lose if the internet was to go down, we divide their yearly revenue to reveal how much they could potentially lose per day, an hour and then a minute without the internet.
Source
- https://netblocks.org/cost/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/578364/countries-with-most-instagram-users/
- https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/facebook-users-by-country
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/242606/number-of-active-twitter-users-in-selected-countries/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/289778/countries-with-the-most-facebook-users/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_Internet_companies
| Country | Number of internet users | 1 hour without the internet ($) | 1 hour without the internet (£) | 5 hours without the internet ($) | 5 hours without the internet (£) | 10 hours without the internet ($) | 10 hours without the internet (£) | 24 hours without the internet ($) | 24 hours without the internet (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World | 4,660,000,000 | $2,142,651,158.00 | £1,564,135,345.34 | $10,713,255,792.00 | £7,820,676,728.16 | $21,426,511,584.00 | £15,641,353,456.32 | $51,423,627,803.00 | £37,539,248,296.19 |
| United States | 312,320,000 | $303,609,046.00 | £221,634,603.58 | $1,518,045,231.00 | £1,108,173,018.63 | $3,036,090,462.00 | £2,216,346,037.26 | $7,286,617,109.00 | £5,319,230,489.57 |
| China | 904,080,566 | $244,837,829.00 | £178,731,615.17 | $1,224,189,147.00 | £893,658,077.31 | $2,448,378,295.00 | £1,787,316,155.35 | $5,876,107,907.00 | £4,289,558,772.11 |
| United Kingdom | 65,001,016 | $94,287,877.00 | £68,830,150.21 | $471,439,384.00 | £344,150,750.32 | $942,878,767.00 | £688,301,499.91 | $2,262,909,041.00 | £1,651,923,599.93 |
| Japan | 116,505,120 | $79,111,046.00 | £57,751,063.58 | $395,555,228.00 | £288,755,316.44 | $791,110,456.00 | £577,510,632.88 | $1,898,665,094.00 | £1,386,025,518.62 |
| Spain | 42,400,756 | $64,335,427.00 | £46,964,861.71 | $321,677,135.00 | £234,824,308.55 | $643,354,270.00 | £469,648,617.10 | $1,544,050,247.00 | £1,127,156,680.31 |
| Netherlands | 15,877,494 | $44,652,747.00 | £32,596,505.31 | $223,263,733.00 | £162,982,525.09 | $446,527,466.00 | £325,965,050.18 | $1,071,665,919.00 | £782,316,120.87 |
| Germany | 77,794,405 | $42,651,577.00 | £31,135,651.21 | $213,257,886.00 | £155,678,256.78 | $426,515,771.00 | £311,356,512.83 | $1,023,637,851.00 | £747,255,631.23 |
| India | 755,820,000 | $42,176,615.00 | £30,788,928.95 | $210,883,072.00 | £153,944,642.56 | $421,766,145.00 | £307,889,285.85 | $1,012,238,748.00 | £738,934,286.04 |
| Switzerland | 7,942,864 | $36,894,461.00 | £26,932,956.53 | $184,472,304.00 | £134,664,781.92 | $368,944,608.00 | £269,329,563.84 | $885,467,060.00 | £646,390,953.80 |
| South Korea | 49,421,084 | $35,507,830.00 | £25,920,715.90 | $177,539,148.00 | £129,603,578.04 | $355,078,296.00 | £259,207,156.08 | $852,187,911.00 | £622,097,175.03 |
| Sweden | 9,554,907 | $30,081,191.00 | £21,959,269.43 | $150,405,954.00 | £109,796,346.42 | $300,811,908.00 | £219,592,692.84 | $721,948,580.00 | £527,022,463.40 |
| France | 58,038,536 | $25,459,454.00 | £18,585,401.42 | $127,297,268.00 | £92,927,005.64 | $254,594,535.00 | £185,854,010.55 | $611,026,885.00 | £446,049,626.05 |
| Belgium | 10,021,242 | $25,050,975.00 | £18,287,211.75 | $125,254,874.00 | £91,436,058.02 | $250,509,748.00 | £182,872,116.04 | $601,223,395.00 | £438,893,078.35 |
| Poland | 34,697,848 | $23,112,290.00 | £16,871,971.70 | $115,561,450.00 | £84,359,858.50 | $231,122,900.00 | £168,719,717.00 | $554,694,960.00 | £404,927,320.80 |
| Norway | 5,120,225 | $22,321,080.00 | £16,294,388.40 | $111,605,400.00 | £81,471,942.00 | $223,210,800.00 | £162,943,884.00 | $535,705,920.00 | £391,065,321.60 |
| Austria | 7,681,957 | $21,244,133.00 | £15,508,217.09 | $106,220,667.00 | £77,541,086.91 | $212,441,334.00 | £155,082,173.82 | $509,859,201.00 | £372,197,216.73 |
| United Arab Emirates | 8,913,217 | $21,036,616.00 | £15,356,729.68 | $105,183,082.00 | £76,783,649.86 | $210,366,163.00 | £153,567,298.99 | $504,878,791.00 | £368,561,517.43 |
| Italy | 36,387,619 | $19,635,107.00 | £14,333,628.11 | $98,175,535.00 | £71,668,140.55 | $196,351,069.00 | £143,336,280.37 | $471,242,566.00 | £344,007,073.18 |
| Denmark | 5,407,278 | $18,293,139.00 | £13,353,991.47 | $91,465,693.00 | £66,769,955.89 | $182,931,385.00 | £133,539,911.05 | $439,035,325.00 | £320,495,787.25 |
| Hong Kong | 6,585,678 | $17,705,201.00 | £12,924,796.73 | $88,526,003.00 | £64,623,982.19 | $177,052,007.00 | £129,247,965.11 | $424,924,816.00 | £310,195,115.68 |
| Canada | 33,950,632 | $17,255,049.00 | £12,596,185.77 | $86,275,247.00 | £62,980,930.31 | $172,550,495.00 | £125,961,861.35 | $414,121,187.00 | £302,308,466.51 |
| Venezuela | 20,564,451 | $16,783,461.00 | £12,251,926.53 | $83,917,306.00 | £61,259,633.38 | $167,834,537.00 | £122,519,212.01 | $402,734,885.00 | £293,996,466.05 |
| Israel | 6,788,737 | $16,598,611.00 | £12,116,986.03 | $82,993,056.00 | £60,584,930.88 | $165,986,113.00 | £121,169,862.49 | $398,366,671.00 | £290,807,669.83 |
| Ireland | 4,024,552 | $16,356,548.00 | £11,940,280.04 | $81,782,738.00 | £59,701,398.74 | $163,565,476.00 | £119,402,797.48 | $163,565,476.00 | £119,402,797.48 |
| Singapore | 4,821,119 | $15,862,716.00 | £11,579,782.68 | $79,313,578.00 | £57,898,911.94 | $158,627,155.00 | £115,797,823.15 | $380,705,173.00 | £277,914,776.29 |
| Malaysia | 25,343,685 | $14,616,136.00 | £10,669,779.28 | $73,080,680.00 | £53,348,896.40 | $146,161,360.00 | £106,697,792.80 | $350,787,264.00 | £256,074,702.72 |
| Brazil | 160,010,801 | $14,304,066.00 | £10,441,968.18 | $71,520,328.00 | £52,209,839.44 | $143,040,657.00 | £104,419,679.61 | $343,298,663.00 | £250,608,023.99 |
| Australia | 21,159,515 | $14,198,072.00 | £10,364,592.56 | $70,990,361.00 | £51,822,963.53 | $141,980,722.00 | £103,645,927.06 | $340,753,733.00 | £248,750,225.09 |
| Mexico | 89,000,000 | $14,003,806.00 | £10,222,778.38 | $70,019,028.00 | £51,113,890.44 | $140,038,056.00 | £102,227,780.88 | $336,091,334.00 | £245,346,673.82 |
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