How Many People Use the Dark Web?

The dark web is usually associated with illegal internet activity, such as human trafficking and selling illegal things. But there’s more to it than that. Find out here how many people use this part of the internet and just what is on there.

How Many People Use The Dark Web?

(Source: Avast / CEOP)

The most popular browser used to access the dark web, Tor Project, gets over 2 million users daily, but this doesn’t mean that that is the number of daily dark web users. 

Tor says that only 1.5% of those users access hidden websites. However, accessing dark or hidden websites doesn’t equal doing illegal activities.

More Stats and Facts About The Dark Web

Do you want to find out how much of the internet is actually part of the dark web and what is the most popular software for accessing the dark web? Read some of our most important stats.

Tor is the standard browser for accessing the dark web.

(Source: Avast)

Tor gives you the option of private browsing. The Onion Router software tool that Tor uses routes traffic through several servers and hides your IP address. 

According to some dark web statistics in 2022, it’s not exclusively used for accessing the dark web. But it’s the standard browser to use to get to it. 

The dark web accounts for 5% of all the internet.

(Source: CSO Online)

We don’t know exactly how big the dark web is, and it is hard to find the actual number. However, just because something is on the dark web doesn’t necessarily mean that it is an illegal activity. Some may just want to browse privately.

People sell drugs, counterfeit money, and data on the dark web.

(Source: Norton)

Another thing sold on the dark web is other people’s Netflix accounts. People also sell guns, pornography, passwords, credit card numbers, debit card numbers, and bank account numbers.

Cryptocurrencies have also helped make purchasing things on the dark web easier because of their anonymity. So, if you know how to mine crypto or own any, you can buy and sell things easier on the dark web.

The United States is the most intrigued country when it comes to the dark web.

(Source: Uswitch)

By counting how many people searched “How can you access the dark web” and similar things using the Google search volume data, we can see that the US tops the list, followed by India and then the UK. 

London was the UK city that topped the list with 8,490 search volumes, while Paris was the city most curious about the darknet in Europe with 5,450. New Yorkers searched for info about the darknet the most in the US 10,220 times.

Almost 60% of all dark web users are between 26–35 old.

(Source: Arxiv)

It’s 58.8%, to be exact, of the millennials using the dark web. Recent dark web statistics also show that 23.5% of dark web users are between 36 and 45 years of age, while people between 18 to 25 years old account for 11.8%. 

Demographics of dark web users also tell us that those between 46 and 55 are in the lowest numbers, only 5.9%.

The deep web accounts for 90% of the internet.

(Source: GeeksforGeeks, VPNOverview)

The deep web is a layer above the dark web. It is not filled with illegal stuff, but it consists of pages that may be locked, i.e., meant for some groups of people. Pages that aren’t accessed through search engines are part of the deep web.

Wrapping Up

We hope that these statistics and facts give you a better idea about the dark web. Now you know that not everything on the dark web is illegal. Accessing the dark web is also not that difficult with the right browser.