Digital 2026: Saint Helena, Ascension & Tristan Da Cunha
NEED THE LATEST DATA?
We publish regular updates to content in the Global Digital Reports series. Please click here to ensure you’re using our latest data for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
This page explores the adoption and use of connected devices and services in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2026.
If you want to know whether this is our most recent report on Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, or if you’re looking for data on digital trends and behaviours in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha for other years, you can find DataReportal’s full collection of (free!) reports on Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha by clicking here.
You’ll find a summary of key statistics in the “overview graphic” section towards the bottom of this page, but we’ll start this article by taking a look at the essential headline numbers for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha this year.
Just before that, you might like to know that this year’s report is brought to you with the support of Kepios.
A note on dates
To align our reporting more closely with our readers’ digital planning cycles, please be aware that we published our Digital 2026 reports at the end of 2025.
As a result, many of the data points we’ll reference in this article are from late 2025.
For reassurance, these data points reflect the latest available data in October 2025, so they’re still highly representative of digital adoption and evolving preferences and behaviours in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2026.
However, because we’ve changed our publication cycle since our Digital 2025 reports, please pay close attention to the dates and time periods stated in this article and in our accompanying Digital 2026 reports, and avoid calculating values for change over time by referencing data published in our previous reports and articles.
OK, ready to start exploring the data?
The “state of digital” in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2026
Here are DataReportal’s essential headlines for the adoption and use of connected devices and services in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2026:
A total of 2,442 cellular mobile connections were active in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in late 2025, with this figure equivalent to 47.1 percent of the total population. However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.
There were 1,950 individuals using the internet in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha at the end of 2025, when online penetration stood at 37.6 percent.
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha was home to 2,800 social media user identities in October 2025, equating to 54.0 percent of the total population.*
These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha for 2026, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving, we need to dig deeper into the data.
So, let’s take a closer look at what the numbers tell us, starting with some valuable context relating to the population of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
*Note: while it may seem implausible that social media user numbers could exceed internet user numbers, there may be various reasons for this apparent “mismatch”, many of which do not entail or imply any actual error in the source data or its subsequent treatment. As a result, we’ve elected to report the data “as is”, in order to enable readers to form their own judgements. Please see our detailed notes on data to learn more about the potential causes of this anomaly, and to read our guidance on how to interpret this data.
Population of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2026
Data from the United Nations indicates that the population of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha stood at 5,187 in October 2025.
The same dataset also shows that Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s population decreased by 39 (-0.7 percent) between the end of 2024 and the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, in late 2025, 41.2 percent of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s population lived in urban centres, whereas 58.8 percent lived in rural areas.
At that time, 50.5 percent of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s population was female, while 49.5 percent of the population was male.
Note: gender data were only available for “female” and “male” at the time of report production.
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s population by age
At the end of 2025, the median age of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s population was 50.9, with half of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s population above this age, and the other half of the population below it.
For added context, here’s how Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s total population broke down by age group at the end of the year, according to the United Nations’ data:
3.8 percent was between the ages of 0 and 4.
7.5 percent was between the ages of 5 and 12.
5.2 percent was between the ages of 13 and 17.
5.9 percent was between the ages of 18 and 24.
8.7 percent was between the ages of 25 and 34.
11.0 percent was between the ages of 35 and 44.
12.7 percent was between the ages of 45 and 54.
17.3 percent was between the ages of 55 and 64.
27.8 percent was aged 65 and above.
Note: percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.
Mobile connections in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2026
Data from GSMA Intelligence shows that there were 2,442 cellular mobile connections in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha at the end of 2025.
For perspective, many people make use of more than one mobile connection, so it’s not unusual for mobile connection figures to significantly exceed figures for total population.
For example, the same person might have one mobile connection for personal use, but also use a separate mobile connection for work activities. The rise of eSIMs has made this even easier over recent years.
However, this practice hasn’t yet pushed mobile connectivity rates in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha beyond 100 percent, and GSMA Intelligence’s numbers indicate that mobile connections in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha were equivalent to 47.1 percent of the total population in October 2025.
Looking at trends over time, the number of mobile connections in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha increased by 34 (+1.4 percent) between the end of 2024 and the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, GSMA Intelligence’s data suggests that 33.7 percent of mobile connections in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha can now be considered “broadband”, which means that they connect via 3G, 4G, or 5G mobile networks.
However, devices that connect to “broadband” mobile networks do not necessarily use cellular mobile data — for example, some subscription plans may only include access to voice and SMS services — so this broadband figure should not be considered a proxy for mobile internet use.
Internet use in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2026
At the time of report production, Kepios’s analysis of the latest available data indicated that there were 1,950 internet users in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in October 2025.
This means that Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s internet penetration rate stood at 37.6 percent of the total population at the end of the year.
For reference, our internet user figures are informed by data from numerous reputable sources, including:
The ITU (the International Telecommunication Union), which is the United Nations’ specialised agency for digital technologies that “facilitates international connectivity in communication networks”.
GSMA Intelligence, which is the market intelligence arm of the GSMA, a global organisation that ”unifies the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop, and deliver innovation”.
Eurostat, which is the statistical office of the European Union.
National telecommunications authorities, government regulators, and national statistics offices.
Planning tools provided by various large internet companies, including Google and Meta.
Kepios’s analysis of this data indicates that the number of internet users in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha decreased by 15 (-0.7 percent) between October 2024 and October 2025.
And for added perspective, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s internet adoption rate (i.e. the percentage of the total population that uses the internet) remained unchanged during the same period.
But these user figures also suggest that 3,237 people in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha did not use the internet at the end of 2025, suggesting that 62.4 percent of the population remained “offline” at the end of the year.
However, complexities associated with the collection and analysis of internet user data mean that it can often take several months before research is ready for publication.
As a result, the latest published figures for internet use may under-represent current realities, and actual rates for internet adoption and year-on-year growth may be higher than the figures shown here suggest.
Please see our comprehensive notes on data for further details.
Social media statistics for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2026
Proprietary analysis conducted by Kepios on behalf of DataReportal indicates that there were 2,800 active social media user identities in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in October 2025.
For perspective, this figure was equivalent to 54.0 percent of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s total population at the end of 2025.
However, while Kepios’s methodology strives to “de-duplicate” social media users across different social platforms — and, wherever possible, to remove accounts that do not represent individual human users — it’s important to stress that our social media user identities figures may not represent unique individuals (see our detailed notes on data to learn why).
Moreover, due to complexities associated with de-duplicating users across different social platforms, the methodology that we use to calculate social media user identities may sometimes only factor users of the social media platform that has the largest active audience in the respective country at the time of report production.
As a result, the figures that we publish for a country’s overall social media use may sometimes look very similar to the statistics that we publish for the most popular social media platform in that country.
Separately, please also note that the signals and sources that we rely on to inform these social media figures make regular changes and corrections to their data.
Consequently, the values for social media use shown here might appear to be quite different to the numbers that we published in previous years.
Because of this, we advise significant caution when comparing the values for social media user identities published in this year’s reports with those published in previous years, especially because changes in our reported values may be the result of “corrections” in the source data, and not all trends will be the result of changes in actual user behaviour.
Indeed, source data anomalies mean that we are currently unable to report reliable figures for change over time in social media user identities for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, and readers should avoid comparing current values for social media user identities with equivalent values shown in our previous reports, because such comparisons will result in incorrect values and unrepresentative trends.Turning our attention to user demographics, data published in the ad planning tools of top social media platforms indicates that there were 2,450 users aged 18 and above using social media in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha at the end of 2025, which was equivalent to 56.6 percent of the total population aged 18 and above.
At that time, 63.6 percent of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s social media user identities were female, while 36.4 percent were male.
And for added context, it may be helpful to know that 143.6 percent* of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha’s total internet user base (regardless of age) used at least one social media platform in October 2025.
Note: due to source data limitations, we’re only able to report gender data for “female” and “male”.
*Advisory: we’re aware that usage rates in excess of 100 percent of the population, of the “eligible” population, and / or of internet users may seem implausible, but we’ve elected to republish source data “as is”, in order to enable readers to make their own judgements. Please see our detailed notes on data to learn more about potential causes of these anomalies.
Additional resources
Just before we get to the overview graphic, here are some suggestions for further reading, which will provide additional context for our full set of Digital 2026 numbers for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha:
Read our complete Digital 2026 Global Overview Report to get a comprehensive overview of the “state of digital” around the world in 2026.
Click here to see all of the Global Digital Reports we’ve published for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha over the years.
Explore all of our reports on countries in the Western Africa region by clicking here.
Find all of the reports in the Digital 2026 series via this handy index page.
Visit our complete online library to see all of the (free!) reports in the Global Digital Reports series.
If you’d like to receive updates when we publish new reports, click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Overview graphic
You’ll find a handy overview of the current “state of digital” in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in the graphic below.