Digital Privacy Literacy and Data Protection Behaviors: Global Statistics Dataset (2020-2024)

Published: 30 March 2026| Version 2 | DOI: 10.17632/6722gtgnbm.2
Contributor:
Juan Moises de la Serna

Description

This dataset compiles global statistics on digital privacy literacy and data protection behaviors, covering the period 2020-2026. It includes four key variable domains: (1) Knowledge about data protection laws (% of population aware of privacy legislation by country); (2) Use of privacy settings and protective behaviors (browser privacy mode, ad blockers, password managers, MFA, VPN usage); (3) Experiences of data breaches and personal data violations (number of exposed records per year, costs, affected countries); and (4) Attitudes toward algorithmic surveillance (opposition rates, acceptance in exchange for free services, biometric surveillance concerns). Data compiled from VPNRanks, IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, Eurobarometer, Pew Research, ENISA, and regional cybersecurity studies. Relevant for research on data economy, digital rights, regulatory compliance (GDPR/LGPD), and cybersecurity policy.

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Steps to reproduce

Data was gathered through systematic review of publicly available reports and surveys (2020-2026). Sources consulted: (1) VPNRanks Global Privacy Survey 2024 for privacy behavior metrics; (2) IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2020-2024 for breach cost statistics; (3) Eurobarometer Special Surveys on GDPR awareness for European knowledge data; (4) Pew Research Center surveys on privacy attitudes; (5) Infochannel cybersecurity reports for Latin America (Mexico). Statistical aggregations were performed to compile cross-country comparisons. CSV files contain cleaned and structured data organized by variable type. Variables are expressed as percentages of population or organizations unless otherwise noted in the 'Notes' column.

Institutions

Categories

Information Science, Big Data, Digital Literacy

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