Original data · MyEsimGlobal 2026
How much mobile data do travellers use? 2026 data by country
Most “how much data do I need” advice is guesswork. This page uses our own records: 1,140 paid eSIM orders to 89 destinations, plus the data use that mobile networks reported for each eSIM after its plan ended. It shows how much people buy and how much they actually use, by destination and by trip length.
Key findings
- Median use: 0.69 GB per day (middle half 0.44–1.02 GB) across 578 finished day passes.
- 74% of orders were day passes (unlimited plans with a daily high-speed allowance), and 26% were fixed-GB packs.
- Median trip length on a day pass: 4.5 days (middle half 2–7 days).
- 73% of day-pass travellers used at least 90% of their high-speed allowance. On the 1 GB/day pass, median use was 1.02 GB a day (43 trips). When people have more data, they use more.
- Fixed-GB buyers used a median of 3.0 GB per plan, which was 70% of what they bought. One in three (34%) used up the whole pack.
- Morocco had the highest use (1.07 GB/day, 29 trips). Georgia had the lowest (0.52 GB/day, 15 trips).
Mobile data use by destination
Destinations with at least 30 paid orders. Ranges are the middle half of travellers (25th–75th percentile).
| Destination | Orders | Trip length (days) | GB bought | GB used per day | Used ≥90% of allowance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | 274 | 6 (3–7) | 3 (1.5–5) | 0.71 (0.36–1.08) n=105 | 70% |
| Greece | 217 | 4 (3–6) | 2.5 (1.5–4) | 0.65 (0.47–0.91) n=117 | 74% |
| Europe (30+ countries) | 72 | 7 (4–9) | 3.5 (1.5–4.6) | 0.64 (0.41–0.79) n=53 | 74% |
| Morocco | 60 | 7 (3–8) | 4 (2.5–5.9) | 1.07 (0.78–1.29) n=29 | 86% |
| Spain | 33 | 7 (2–8) | 4 (1–7.5) | 0.62 (0.42–1.06) n=19 | 68% |
| Georgia | 30 | 3 (1–3) | 2.8 (0.5–4.3) | 0.52 (0.26–0.78) n=15 | 53% |
| All other destinations (83) | 454 | 4 (1–7) | 2.5 (1–5) | 0.72 (0.48–0.99) n=240 | 74% |
| All orders | 1,140 | 4.5 (2–7) | 3 (1–5) | 0.69 (0.44–1.02) n=578 | 73% |
Trip length and GB used per day are for day passes only, and n is the number of finished day passes with usage data. GB bought covers all orders: for a day pass it is the daily allowance × days. “Europe” is our regional plan for 30+ countries. Source: MyEsimGlobal orders and operator usage records, 1 June – 30 October 2026.
Fixed-GB packs: how much of the pack gets used
Day-pass figures are partly shaped by the allowance: most travellers bought the 0.5 GB/day pass, and use above that runs at reduced speed. Fixed-GB packs show the other side, because nothing limits use until the pack runs out.
Almost half of 1 GB packs were used up completely, so 1 GB is too small for most trips. On 5 GB and 10 GB packs, the median traveller used about 70% and still had data left at the end.
| Pack | Orders | Finished plans | Median GB used | Middle half | Used ≥95% of pack |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 60 | 33 | 0.91 | 0.57–1 | 49% |
| 3 GB | 56 | 35 | 1.86 | 1.3–2.97 | 29% |
| 5 GB | 72 | 48 | 3.5 | 1.92–4.88 | 29% |
| 10 GB | 65 | 49 | 6.86 | 3.87–9.62 | 29% |
| 20 GB | 33 | 26 | 17.09 | 7.14–20 | 46% |
How much data do I need? A guide based on real use
We multiplied measured daily use by trip length. “Typical” is the median traveller and “heavy” is the top quarter (75th percentile) for that trip length.
| Trip | Typical use | Heavy use | What we would buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekend / city break (3 days) | ≈ 2.3 GB | ≈ 3.4 GB | 3 GB, or a 0.5 GB/day pass |
| One week (7 days) | ≈ 4.7 GB | ≈ 6.4 GB | 5 GB; 10 GB or a 1 GB/day pass if you stream or share a hotspot |
| Two weeks (14 days) | ≈ 8.4 GB | ≈ 11.9 GB | 10 GB; 20 GB for heavy users |
Daily use falls slightly on longer trips: 0.75 GB/day on 1–3 day trips (233 trips), 0.67 on 4–7 days (239), 0.60 on 8–14 days (88). Video calls, streaming and hotspot sharing push you into the heavy column.
How we measured
- Sample: 1,140 paid MyEsimGlobal eSIM orders created between 1 June and 30 October 2026 (UTC), to 89 destinations.
- Excluded: refunded or cancelled orders, free-trial eSIMs, internal test accounts, and two accounts with more than 10 orders each (likely testing or resale).
- Usage: the total data the mobile network reported for each eSIM after its plan ended (expired or used up). Plans with less than 1 MB of use were left out. This gives 578 finished day passes and 194 finished fixed-GB packs.
- GB used per day = total use ÷ days bought. On day passes, use after the daily high-speed allowance (at reduced speed) is included, so a day can exceed 0.5 GB.
- Destinations are grouped by the plan bought, and regional plans count as their own destination. We show a destination only when it has 30 or more orders. Smaller destinations are grouped together.
- Medians and 25th/75th percentiles; 1 GB = 1,024 MB. Only aggregates are published; no personal data is included.
Cite as: MyEsimGlobal, “How much mobile data do travellers use? 2026 data by country”, 30 October 2026, with a link to this page.
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