Global Average of 40% of Homes Have at Least One IoT Device

How many homes in your country do you think own at least one smart device? The answer may be larger than you think, as a recent study showed that an average of 40% of homes around the world have at least one IoT device.

What Are the Exact Percentages?

Of course, this isn’t claiming that 40% of all homes in the world have an IoT device. This is a global average tallied by taking the values of each country and combining them into a median. As such, countries with very little IoT presence are “balanced out” by ones with a high IoT penetration rate.

What are the country-based percentages that this average is calculated from? The official report from Avast doesn’t go into a lot of detail, but they do reveal some interesting tidbits of information.

North America has the densest adoption of IoT devices, with 66% of scanned homes containing at least one. This contrasts with South America, with only a 34% adoption rate.

Western Europe is going strong with 54% of homes having one device, which is more than Eastern Europe’s 26%. At the same time, 13% of the people who buy three or more IoT devices in Eastern Europe get a surveillance device, compared to just 5% in Western Europe.

South Asia are the most paranoid; out of all of the IoT devices they own, 54% of them are surveillance-based. This is a stark contrast to North America, where surveillance IoT only takes up 4% of the pool.

What Does this Say About IoT in the Home?

First, these stats show that the public, as a whole, have adopted IoT quite easily. There are a lot of privacy concerns when a new piece of technology enters the scene in this manner, but people seem to be pushing those aside in order to enjoy the benefits these devices bring.

Second, this goes to show how important IoT security is. If 66% of homes in North America have at least one IoT device, those devices have to be tight in security. If they’re not, hackers will have a field day with the vast network of devices available to them.

What Needs to Be Done Next

These stats show that consumers have taken to IoT devices very well. Gone are the privacy suspicions and worries; now people are opening the door to this new world of technology and bringing them into their homes.

Now that the public has taken to this new realm of possibilities, it’s up to the companies and lawmakers to keep them safe. Businesses need to ensure that customers’ privacy and security are assured with their products; if they refuse, lawmakers need to be there to set the rules and force companies to add adequate security.

A Roam in the Home

While the recent Avast study shows there is a 40% global adoption rate of IoT devices in the home, this is promising for the future of IoT penetration amongst consumers. It hammers home the fact that cybersecurity is more important now than ever.

Does the 40% statistic make you concerned about our privacy? Or is this simply a sign of the future arriving? Let us know below