How do Americans feel about online privacy?
Americans pay close attention to privacy risks and show strong awareness of how digital services collect personal data. Many feel comfortable with online payments, but fewer say they feel fully in control of what happens to their information after they share it.
According to NordVPN’s survey:
- 72% of Americans say they understand how online services and social media platforms collect and use their personal data.
- 73% feel confident entering their payment information on online shopping websites.
- 61% feel in control of how their personal data is handled online.
- 87% say they would want to be notified immediately if their personal data were compromised.
- 67% say they regularly review or adjust privacy settings on the websites or apps they use.
You can see a gap between awareness and control in the US results. Many Americans understand how online services work and actively watch for privacy risks, but a smaller share feel fully confident about the choices, permissions, and data-sharing settings that shape their digital footprint.
How the US compares with the rest of the world
The US results are close to the middle in 23 markets surveyed. Americans score 72% on privacy awareness, which places the country close to many other Western markets.
On online payments, the US scores 73%, which places it below markets such as the United Kingdom (81%) and Canada (76%). Americans score 61% on personal data control, which places the US above lower-scoring markets such as Japan (39%), but below some of the strongest markets in the study.
Global results
While each market tells its own story, several privacy trends appear across countries worldwide:
- Wanting to know about a data breach is the most consistent privacy expectation across all 23 markets. The strongest demand for immediate breach alerts appears in Norway (96%), Denmark (94%), and Sweden (93%), while Japan (77%) and Germany (76%) report the lowest scores on this measure.
- Respondents in Latin America and parts of East Asia report some of the strongest privacy habits. Mexico (82%), Brazil (79%), Taiwan (75%), and Hong Kong (76%) lead the study when it comes to regularly reviewing privacy settings, app permissions, or account security.
- Feeling informed often scores higher than feeling in control. In most markets, privacy awareness scores fall between 67% and 84%, while personal data control often drops to 39% to 66%, which points to a clear gap between understanding privacy risks and feeling able to manage them.
- The largest awareness–control gaps appear in the Nordic countries and in Japan. Respondents in these markets strongly value breach alerts but report lower confidence when it comes to managing personal data online.
- Taiwan and Hong Kong stand out for digital confidence. These markets combine strong privacy awareness, high demand for breach alerts, and some of the strongest feelings of personal control in the study.
- Japan reports the lowest scores across multiple privacy measures. Japan scores lowest on privacy awareness (44%), personal data control (39%), and privacy-setting habits (49%) among all markets in the study.
- Across nearly every market, concern scores higher than confidence. People care deeply about personal data, want quick alerts when something goes wrong, and pay attention to online risks. Still, confidence with online payments and personal data control often scores lower, which suggests many people still want clearer choices, better visibility, and stronger tools to protect themselves online.
Which groups feel most confident online?
The survey shows that online privacy confidence does not spread evenly across all groups. Some respondents report stronger awareness, stronger habits, and a stronger sense of control more often than others:
- Parents and households with children often report stronger privacy habits, stronger payment confidence, and a stronger sense of control over personal data than households without children.
- Millennials and younger working-age adults often report stronger confidence with online payments, stronger privacy awareness, and a stronger sense of control, although younger Gen Z respondents in some markets report lower privacy-setting habits.
- People with university degrees often score higher on privacy awareness and report a stronger understanding of how companies collect and use personal data.
- Higher-income households often report stronger confidence in online payments and stronger feelings of control over personal data.
- Business owners, freelancers, and self-employed respondents often report some of the strongest scores across privacy awareness, control, and privacy-setting habits.
- Older adults, retired respondents, and lower-income groups appear more often on the lower end of privacy confidence, even though many report a strong demand for breach alerts.
What these results tell us
The US results show a pattern we see across many countries in this study. People understand that personal data has value, they pay attention to online risks, and they expect quick alerts when something goes wrong. Still, awareness does not always lead to confidence. Many respondents understand how websites, apps, and online services collect data, but fewer say they feel fully in control of what happens after they share it.
That gap often shows up in everyday digital choices, from app permissions and browser settings to online accounts and connected devices.
Maintaining privacy now requires people to make dozens of small decisions across different services. If settings are unclear, permissions are excessive, or data collection practices are difficult to understand, even careful users can feel that they are only partly aware of how their data is being handled.
Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at NordVPN
Protecting personal data often starts with simple habits such as reviewing privacy settings, using strong passwords, browsing with a more private connection through a VPN, and using tools such as NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro™ that help spot online threats earlier.
Methodology
NordVPN surveyed internet users across 23 markets in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia between February 10 and April 8, 2026. The study included countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico, along with other markets across Europe and Asia.
The research explored five parts of online privacy: how well people understand personal data, how confident they feel online, how much control they feel they have, how strongly they want breach alerts, and how often they review privacy settings.
The survey included 1,000 respondents in most markets and 800 respondents in Spain, South Korea, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Most respondents were 18–74 years old, with local age ranges adjusted in selected markets.
Respondents were selected using nationally representative samples based on age, gender, and place of residence. The responses were collected through online research panels operated by Cint, Norstat, and SYNO International, depending on the market.
Complete research materials for this study can be found here.
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