WIN International, the world’s leading association in market research and polling, has published the Annual WIN World Survey (WWS – 2020) exploring the views and beliefs of 26,433 individuals among citizens from 34 countries across the globe about the privacy of digital information.
Sharing personal information digitally
Overall, 45% of the global population is concerned about sharing their personal information digitally, a percentage that decreases only by two points compared to last year. Among women, the percentage decreases from 49% to 47%, and among men from 46% to 43%.
More than half of people in the American continent (54%) feel concerned about sharing their information digitally. The share of concerned people in other areas of the world remains significant: in the APAC region, 45% are concerned about sharing personal information digitally, and in Europe 43%. Interestingly, the Africa region experienced a very significant drop of 22 points compared to last year (from 50% to 28%).
Two of the countries with the highest levels of concerns are in Latin America: people in Brazil (72%) and Chile (61%) are concerned the most about sharing their information digitally, while Pakistan (30%), Nigeria, and the Palestinian Territories (28% each) are the countries with the lowest levels of concern.
Necessity of sharing personal information
On a global level, the perception of how necessary it is to share personal information nowadays is consistent compared to last year (22%), while 30% of respondents do not consider it necessary, + 3% points compared to 2019.
When looking closely at different employment categories, 20% among students consider that sharing personal information is necessary, falling 6 points compared to 2019. The African continent suffered a drop of 8% compared to last year (from 32% to 24%), while Europeans seem to believe it is necessary to share personal data slightly more compared to the previous measurement (17% to 19%).
South Korea (10%), Peru (9%), and France (8%) are the countries where people agree the least with the importance of sharing personal information. Interestingly, in Nigeria, the need to share personal information dropped considerably (from 40% in 2019 to 24% in 2020).
Fine with the privacy practices of most data collectors asking for my personal information
Almost a third of the surveyed population disagrees with the privacy practices of most data collectors, and people aged 55 and over are those who express their disagreement the most.
When looking at differences between countries, the data about Argentina stands out: almost half of Argentineans (48%) are not fine with the privacy practices of most data collectors asking for personal information.
What happens with personal information after it is shared with a data collector?
Even though people seem to have strong opinions on whether it is necessary to share personal information online, it is different to truly understand what happens after it is shared with data collectors. When asked about it, 27% of the population admit knowing what happens with their data, but another 27% don’t know how it will be used or where. People who are less aware of how data collectors use their data are 3% more than last year.
In particular, 30% of people in APAC mentioned they know what happens with their personal data after it is shared, with +3% points compared to 2019. On the other hand, results in Africa show a decrease of 2 points (from 29% to 27%).
Japan (12%), Finland (11%), and South Korea (4%) show the lowest results, meaning that a vast majority declare that they don´t know what happens with their data after they share it.
Vilma Scarpino, President of WIN International Association, said:
“The WIN World Survey highlights important trends and attitudes towards the usage of personal information in the digital world. A significant share of the population is concerned about the privacy of their data, and fewer people compared to last year find it necessary to share them online. However, what stands out the most is that almost a third of the global population is not aware of the use that data collectors make of their personal information. It becomes clear how transparency could play an important role in improving people’s awareness first, but also trust and confidence. Once costumers are more informed, they could also become increasingly more loyal.”
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