There Will Be More Than 3.7 Billion Email Users by the End of 2017

Email use continues to grow even as other methods of interpersonal communication, such as instant messaging, social networking and chat are seeing strong adoption. Email continues to see strong use in the business world, as well as with consumers where it is often used primarily for notifications (e.g. for online sales) rather than simply as an interpersonal communication tool.

In 2017, the total number of business and consumer emails sent and received per day will reach 269 billion, and is expected to continue to grow at an average annual rate of 4.4% over the next four years, reaching 319.6 billion by the end of 2021.

In 2017, the number of worldwide email users will top 3.7 billion. By the end of 2021, the number of worldwide email users will be over 4.1 billion. Approximately half of the worldwide population uses email in 2017.

The number of worldwide email accounts is expected to continue to grow at a slightly faster pace than the number of worldwide email users. This is particularly true of Consumer email accounts, where many consumers tend to have multiple email accounts for different purposes (i.e. shopping, vs. friends and family, etc.)

Over the next four years, the average number of email accounts per user ratio will grow from an average of 1.70 accounts per user to an average of 1.86 accounts per user. While there is increased use of IM, chat, social networking, and other forms of communication, email continues to show steady growth, as all forms of online communication require users to have an email address to access their services. In addition, all e-Commerce transactions (i.e.shopping, banking, etc.) require a valid email address.