Overconsumption: The Growing Desire for Ever More Devices

Electronics are highly energy and resource-intensive to produce. From mining raw materials to manufacturing and shipping the finished products, to charging them during use and finally to disposing of them, each item leaves its mark on the Earth. And while recycling efforts are improving, as well as policies to make such processes more efficient and sustainable, the ever-growing demand for electronics is proving hard to keep up with in terms of protecting the environment.

Data from the Digital Economy Report 2024 published by the UN Trade and Development shows that this rising demand isn’t simply a case of more people buying electronic devices worldwide, but also that the average number of devices per consumer is increasing. As the following chart shows, the average number of devices owned per capita worldwide rose from 2.4 to 3.6 between 2018 and 2023.

When looking at a regional breakdown, it’s clear that this growth is unequal, with people in the Global North not only owning the most devices, but seeing the biggest increases in the number of devices owned. For example, in North America, the average person owned around 8 devices in 2018 but 13 in 2023 (up 63 percent over just five years), while in Western Europe the figure rose from 5.6 in 2018 to 9.4 in 2023 (an increase of 68 percent). By contrast, in the Middle East and Africa it was 1.1 device per capita in 2018 and 1.5 as of 2023 (36 percent increase).

According to the report, Internet of Things devices, such as connected vehicles, sensors, consumer electronics and wearables, will be an important area for growth in the future. These IoT devices surpassed those of conventional devices (personal computer, tablet, mobile and fixed telephone) for the first time in 2021, with forecasts anticipating the average number of IoT devices to grow from 16 billion in 2023 to 39 billion in 2029.

Analysts also highlight that although the total number of devices has increased, overall energy consumption associated with their use (not production) has been relatively stable. This is largely due to a shift towards smaller, more energy-efficient devices (from desktop computers to laptops, tablets and smartphones), as well as the shift to more energy-efficient screens.