GDPR Statistics By Regulations, Number And Figures, Fines, Sum And Type Of Violation, Business Sectors, Countries And The Number Of GDPR Fines

Introduction

GDPR Statistics: In 2024, GDPR enforcement continues to intensify across Europe, with significant fines being imposed for non-compliance. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the most stringent data privacy and security laws globally, and it applies to all companies processing personal data of EU residents, regardless of the company’s location.

The fines for violating GDPR can be massive, often reaching hundreds of millions of euros or US dollars, depending on the severity of the breach and the nature of the violation. These statistics highlight the ongoing commitment to safeguarding personal data and adapting to the evolving landscape of data privacy.

Editor’s Choice

• GDPR Statistics show that in 2024, GDPR fines exceeded EUR 4.48 billion (around USD 4.8 billion) as authorities enforced data protection laws more strictly.
• Meta Platforms (Facebook) received the largest fine of the year, EUR 1.2 billion (USD 1.3 billion,) for transferring EU data to the US without proper protection.
• TikTok received a fine of EUR 345 million (USD 377 million) in 2024 for not protecting children’s data properly under GDPR rules.
• As of 2024, Spain issued the most GDPR fines, with over 800 cases, while Italy and Romania also had many fines.
• Amazon faced scrutiny for intrusive employee surveillance, resulting in undisclosed but notable fines.
• Insufficient legal bases for data processing are the most common GDPR violation, responsible for over EUR 1.6 billion in fines.
• Italy fined Clearview AI EUR 20 million (about USD 21.6 million) for breaking data processing rules, which included collecting personal information without proper consent.
• GDPR Statistics further state that EUR 13.9 million (USD 14.8 million) was fined for selling browsing data without consent.
• Romania issued 124 fines by early 2024, with fines totalling EUR 705,550.
• The finance and healthcare sectors are the most fined industries due to the sensitivity of the data they manage.

General GDPR Statistics

(Source: vpnalert.com)

• By March 2023, eight countries had issued 51 GDPR fines, 34 of which were from just a few countries, totalling EUR 397,130,920.
• Ireland has issued 22 GDPR fines totaling EUR 1.31 billion.
• Meanwhile, Luxembourg is second with 25 fines worth 746 million EUROs.
• By February 2023, this category had the most GDPR fines, totalling EUR 430.7 million across all violations.
• In the same period, Norway issued Sats ASA the highest GDPR fine, EUR 900k, for data privacy violations related to improper handling of personal data.
• GDPR Statistics also show that from 2021 to 2023, the total amount of fines issued reached EUR 2.52 billion, highlighting increased enforcement of GDPR rules.
• Eleven countries in the EU gave out GDPR fines larger than EUR 1 million between 2022 and 2023.
• In 2022 and 2023, around 23 GDPR fines were given for not cooperating enough with a supervisory authority during investigations.
• A total of 1,098 GDPR fines were handed out for breaking data protection rules between 2021 and 2023.

Benefits Of The GDPR

(Source: file.forms.app)

• GDPR stops the unauthorised use of EU citizens’ data and ensures that data is handled correctly and legally.
• The GDPR fines businesses that don’t follow its rules, helping prevent data breaches and protecting personal information.
• It makes sure personal data is handled carefully and openly, with control and transparency throughout the process.
• It makes companies more aware of data protection and motivates them to safeguard people’s personal information.
• Following GDPR rules helps companies earn the trust of potential customers by showing they care about data protection.

GDPR Statistics By Types Of Personal Data Covered In 2024

• Basic Personal Data: GDPR covers names (first and last) and contact details (email addresses and phone numbers). All companies must protect this information, and it is fully included in GDPR.
• Identification Data: National ID numbers, like Social Security numbers, are fully covered by GDPR. Driver’s license numbers are 90% compliant.
• Sensitive Data: GDPR fully covers health data and biometric data (like fingerprints), with 95% and 92% of companies complying.
• Special Categories of Data: Around 85% of companies comply with GDPR on racial or ethnic data, and 80% do so for political opinions.
• Financial Data: Bank account details, like account numbers and payment info, are covered by GDPR, with 88% compliance among companies.

Steps For GDPR Compliance Regulations

(Source: seersco.com)

GDPR Statistics By Number And Figures

• According to the GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report, the total number of fines by March 1, 2024, was around 2,086.
• Between 2018 and 2024, the average fine across all countries was EUR 2,142,712.

(Source: cms.law)

The table below shows the monthly analyses of the total number of fines and the sum of fines from 2023 to 2024.

Biggest GDPR Fines Statistics

(Source: hubspotusercontent-eu1.net)

• In the year 2024, Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, fined ENEL Energia over EUR 79 million for breaking telemarketing rules, the largest penalty under GDPR.
• As per GDPR Statistics, other top GDPR fines of 2014 Amazon France Logistique (EUR 32 million), Avast Software (EUR 13.9 million), UniCredit S.p.a. (EUR 2.8 million), TikTok (£1.8 million), CAIXABANK, S.A (EUR 1.2 million), Verkkokauppa.com (EUR 856k), NTT Data Italia S.P.A (EUR 800k), NTT Data Italia S.P.A (EUR 800k), CTC Externalización (EUR 365k), and Santander Bank Polska S.A. (EUR 326k).

Largest Fines Issued For Violations Of GDPR

(Reference: statista.com)

• Since the EU introduced GDPR in May 2018, many fines have been given for breaking or not following rules.
• In May 2023, Meta Platforms, Inc. received the biggest fine ever, amounting to 1,200 million euros.
• Furthermore, the highest fines issued for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) violations (in million euros) as of January 2024 were Amazon Europe Core (746), Meta Platforms, Inc. (405), Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. (390), TikTok Ltd. (345), Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. (265), WhatsApp Ireland Ltd. (225), Google LLC (90), Facebook Ireland Ltd. (60), and Google Ireland Ltd. (60).

The GDPR Fines Statistics By Sum And Type Of Violation

• According to GDPR Statistics, this category had the most GDPR fines by February 2023, totaling EURO 430.7 million across all violations.

Furthermore, other GDPR fines by sum and type of violation Source:

GDPR Statistics By Countries And The Number Of GDPR Fines

• A total of 1,098 GDPR fines were handed out for breaking data protection rules between 2021 and 2023.
• Spain secured the highest number of GDPR fines, 423, at the same time, and the highest fine issued was around EUR 10 million.

Furthermore, the total number of GDPR fines issued by other countries are followed in the table below:

(Reference: cms.law)

• GDPR Statistics further elaborates that in 2024, the top ten countries with fine valuations by countries are Spain (EUR 802), Italy (EUR 343), Romania (EUR 173), Germany (EUR 74), Hungary (EUR 68), Poland (EUR 67), Greece (EUR 66), Norway (EUR 46), France (EUR 41), and Belgium (EUR 41).

By Countries With Such Violations

• In 2022 and 2023, around 23 GDPR fines were given for not cooperating enough with a supervisory authority during investigations.

Similarly, the table below details the other countries’ violations that occurred and the aggregate sums of applicable fines.

GDPR Fine Statistics By Business Sectors

(Source: cms.law)

• In recent years, the Industry and Commerce segment has captured the highest number of GDPR fines, accounting for 438, and the average fine is EUR 2,048320.
• Meanwhile, in terms of the number of fines and average fine, Media Telecoms and Broadcasting, Individuals, and Private and Private Associations secured the second and third positions, respectively, with 438 (EUR 11,745,799) and 269 (EUR 6,873).
• Similarly, the number of fines and average fines for other business sectors are stated as Transportation and Energy (106 and EUR 796194), Employment (128 and EUR 461057), Accommodation and Hospitality (65 and EUR 346001), Finance, Insurance, and Consulting (204 and 280412), Public Sector and Education (233 and 118095), Healthcare (188 and 87,475), and Real Estate (61 and 42,653).

Who Puts Dampers On Data Protection?

(Reference: statista.com)

• In a report published by Statista on GDPR Statistics, around 19% of respondents in the sales and marketing department are experiencing serious pressure to limit GDPR compliance, followed by 27.9% (some pressure).
• Furthermore, other segments of GDPR compliance share based on serious and some pressure are followed by top-level management (12.1% and 20.1%), Lower level management (8.0% and 20.7%), IT (5.8% and 17.4%), Business customers (3.3% and 9.3%), Legal department (4.0% and 4.6%), and Data Protection unit (4.2% and 2.9%), respectively.

EU Data Protection Fines Statistics

(Source: statista.com)

• In 2023, the EU imposed 465 fines totaling about EUR 2,055.0 million for breaking GDPR rules.
• Meanwhile, fines imposed in the EU as per GDPR violations in 2022: Fines (EUR 841.5) and Fines imposed (532), 2021: Fines (EUR 1,278.4) and Fines imposed (462).

Penalties Issued To Meta For EU GDPR Violations

(Reference: statista.com)

• GDPR Statistics further reports that, in May 2023, the EU fined Meta 1200 million euros for breaking data privacy laws with Facebook’s data transfers.
• In January 2023, Meta was fined EUR 390 million for forcing users to accept ads when using Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
• Moreover, other fines issued to Meta for EU data protection and privacy violations in 2022 were for Data breaches in March (EUR 17 million), Instagram child privacy settings in September (EUR 405 million), and Data Scraping in November (EUR 265 million).

Top 10 GDPR Compliance Software Statistics 2024

EU and UK Companies’ GDPR And DPA Readiness Levels In 2023

(Reference: statista.com)

• A survey conducted by Statista in April and May 2023 found that 53% of companies doing business in the EU and UK felt well-prepared for GDPR.
• Meanwhile, around 35% of companies felt moderately prepared to meet EU and UK privacy rules, and 10% felt slightly ready.
• On the other hand, 2% of respondents were not prepared.

GDPR Compliance Statistics

(Source: sprinto.com)

• GDPR Statistics further elaborates that since GDPR started on May 25, 2018, until January 10, 2023, total fines amounted to 2.92 billion euros, or USD 3.1 billion.
• To stay compliant with GDPR, 20% of compliance staff said they switched their email provider.
• Almost 90% of compliance workers find GDPR compliance the most difficult to achieve.

Global GDPR Services Market By Vertical Forecast

By Type Forecast

By Organization Size

GDPR Website Traffic Statistics

(Source: similarweb.com)

• As of August 2024, the total number of website visits to gdpr.eu has reached 198.8 thousand, down by 5.73% from last month and securing a 50.27% bounce rate.
• In the past three months, gdpr.eu’s global ranking improved from 235,696 to 251,258, showing a significant rise in its position.
• The website gdpr.eu had 5.73% fewer desktop visitors this month compared to the previous month.

By Country

(Reference: similarweb.com)

• GDPR Statistica 2024: The United States of America had 20% of the website’s total traffic, which has decreased by 5.25%.
• During the same duration, other countries recorded the following contribution in total traffic: The United Kingdom: 7.18% (-13.74%), India: 4.6% (-29.3%), Denmark: 3.87% (+173.3%), and Netherlands: 3.59% (-12.79%).
• Other countries togetherly made up around 3.04% of visitors shared on gdpr.eu.

By Device

(Reference: semi.toolspur.com)

• As of July 2024, traffic to GDPR’s official website is largely driven by mobile devices, with 52.12% of visitors using mobile devices, while desktop users account for 47.88% of the total visits.
• The website gdpr.eu users make up around 20.52% of the U.S. user base, which is 39.04 thousand. Of these, 44.36% have access to the desktop version, and 55.64% have mobile devices.
• In Kenya, the website secured 33.41K users and 17.55% user traffic, with desktop and mobile users being 64.87% and 35.13%, respectively.
• As per GDPR Statistics, Italy and the Netherlands each have around 25.37 K and 19.23 K users, and their website traffic accounts for 13.33% and 10.11%.
• In Italy, around 0.01% and 99.99% of people accessed gdpr.eu on desktops and mobile devices.
• Moreover, in the Netherlands, 13.09% of users accessed the website via desktop and 86.91% via mobile devices.
• Besides, Romania had 14.76 K users on the GDPR website, with a user share of 7.75%, while 2.39% of these came via desktop and 97.61% on mobile devices.

By Demographics

(Reference: similarweb.com)

• In August 2024, male and female users of gdpr.eu were 67.25% and 32.75%, respectively.
• Similarly, the GDPR Statistics by age group states that the highest number of website users observed is between 25 and 34 years old, which is 33.94%.
• 19.9% of GDPR website users are aged 18 to 24 years.
• In contrast, 17.52% and 14.84% belong to individuals aged 35 to 44 and 45 to 54, respectively.
• Around 8.23% of website users are aged from 55 to 64 years.
• Users above 65 years of age contributed 5.57% of user shares of gdpr.eu.

By Traffic Source

(Reference: similarweb.com)

• GDPR Statistics 2024 also shows that organic search generated the highest traffic rate to gdpr.eu, accounting for 55.77%.
• Almost 33.93% of the share comprises direct traffic searches, while 7.49% is from referral searches.
• Others are followed by social media (2.34%), mail (0.09%), and display (0.36%).

By Social Media Referral Statistics

(Reference: similarweb.com)

• Reddit had the highest social media referral rate, with a 38.33% share compared to other social network traffic on the GDPR website.
• LinkedIn and Facebook each contributed a share of 29.04% and 28.62% on gdpr.eu.
• Around 4.01%of website traffic was accounted for by YouTube in August 2024.

Does GDPR Impact United States Companies?

Yes, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will impact U.S. companies in 2024 if they do business with or target EU customers.

• By the end of 2024, U.S. companies could face fines up to EUR 20 million or 4% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher. For instance, a company with USD 1 billion in revenue could face a maximum fine of USD 40 million if it violates GDPR.
• GDPR Statistics show that American companies spend about USD 1.2 million each year on GDPR compliance, which includes data protection officers, legal help, and software.
• A data breach costs about USD 4.5 million USD, covering notifications, legal fees, and fixes.

GDPR Preparedness Among U.S. Companies

• In the second quarter of 2024, around 30% of U.S. companies reported full compliance with GDPR, up from 28% in Q1.
• 45% of companies were partially compliant, meaning they had implemented some but not all necessary measures, followed by non-compliance with 25% of companies.
• By the end of June 2024, around 40% of U.S. companies had appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO).
• In contrast, 55% of companies had updated their contracts with third-party vendors to include GDPR-compliant data processing agreements.
• 60% of companies had implemented GDPR-specific training programs for their employees.
• In Q2 of 2024, U.S. companies allocated an average of USD200,000 per year towards GDPR compliance efforts, a 5% increase from USD 190,000 in the last quarter.
• Twelve companies in the U.S. were reported to have received fines totaling approximately USD 1.5 million related to GDPR non-compliance.

Impact Of GDPR On European Business

(Source: rsm.global)

• To date, almost 75% of European businesses say GDPR has improved their management of customer data, and 62% say it has led them to invest more in cybersecurity.
• GDPR Statistics state that around 58% of people say GDPR has led to new and creative ways of using data.
• The cost of complying with GDPR has reduced business growth by 37%.
• GDPR compliance has improved our business operations by 31%, making them more effective.
• GDPR has made it harder for us to work with businesses outside Europe (28% report this difficulty).

Conclusion

In summary, GDPR is crucial for data protection and privacy worldwide. In 2024, many companies are working harder to comply by hiring Data Protection Officers, updating contracts, and using specialized software. Despite improvements, some companies still need help, especially those with complex data systems or new regulations.

The GDPR statistics included a growing emphasis on leadership, oversight, and training, highlighting the need for constant attention and adjustment. As data privacy issues change, staying up-to-date and proactive about GDPR compliance is vital for protecting both company reputation and personal privacy.

Maitrayee Dey

Maitrayee, after completing her graduation in Electrical Engineering, transitioned into the world of writing following a series of technical roles. She specializes in technology and Artificial Intelligence, bringing her experience as an Academic Research Analyst and Freelance Writer, with a focus on education and healthcare under the Australian system. From an early age, writing and painting have been her passions, leading her to pursue a full-time career in writing. In addition to her professional endeavors, Maitrayee also manages a YouTube channel dedicated to cooking.

More Posts By Maitrayee Dey

MobiKwik Statistics By Revenue, Financials, Marketing, Website Traffic And Usage

CRISPR Statistics By Startups And Facts

Precision Medicine Statistics By Market Share And Countries

Wind Energy Statistics By Production, Industry Jobs, Operating Capacity, Technology And Facts

Merck & Co. Statistics By Facts, Revenue, Total Assets, Total Employees, Sales, Cash Dividends, Capital Expenditures And Common Shares

LYFT Statistics By Segment, Total Assets, Average Revenue By Active Rider, Users, Gross Bookings And Usage

Geothermal Energy Statistics By Consumption, Number Of Jobs, Type, Top Countries, Generation And Installation Cost

Bristol-Myers Squibb Statistics By Facts, Revenue, Research And Development Spending, EBIT And Stock Chart

SMS Marketing By Market Size, Adoption, Industry, Customer Engagement, Demographics, Consumers' Preferred Channels And Regions

Telemedicine Statistics By Market Revenue, Region, Potential Time Saved, Speciality, Products And Service