Digital 2027: Eritrea
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This page contains all the data, insights, and trends you’ll need to help you understand how people in Eritrea use digital devices, online platforms, and connected services in 2027.
If you want to understand how the data and trends in this report compare with digital behaviours and preferences in Eritrea over time, or if you’re looking for data for past years, you can find DataReportal’s full collection of (free!) reports on Eritrea by clicking here.
You’ll also find the complete Digital 2027 report for Eritrea in the “full report” section towards the bottom of this page, but we’ll start this article by taking a look at the essential headline numbers for Eritrea this year.
Just before that, we’d like to say a big thank you to Meltwater and to We Are Social for their support of this year’s Global Digital Reports.
OK, ready to start exploring the data?
The “state of digital” in Eritrea in 2027
Here are DataReportal’s essential headlines for the adoption and use of connected devices and services in Eritrea in 2027:
A total of 933 thousand cellular mobile connections were active in Eritrea in late 2026, with this figure equivalent to 25.2 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 741 thousand individuals using the internet in Eritrea at the end of 2026, when online penetration stood at 20.0 percent.
Eritrea had 22.5 thousand social media user identities in October 2026, equating to 0.6 percent of the total population.
OCT
2026
TOTAL
POPULATION
YEAR-ON-YEAR CHANGE
DEGREE OF URBANISATION
CELLULAR MOBILE
CONNECTIONS
YEAR-ON-YEAR CHANGE
TOTAL vs. POPULATION
INDIVIDUALS USING
THE INTERNET
YEAR-ON-YEAR CHANGE
TOTAL vs. POPULATION
SOCIAL MEDIA
USER IDENTITIES
YEAR-ON-YEAR CHANGE
TOTAL vs. POPULATION
SOURCES: UN; GOVERNMENT RESOURCES; GSMA INTELLIGENCE; ITU; EUROSTAT; CNNIC; COMPANY AD TOOLS; MANOCHI ANALYSIS. ADVISORY: SOCIAL MEDIA USER IDENTITIES MAY NOT REPRESENT UNIQUE INDIVIDUALS. COMPARABILITY: SOURCE CHANGES AND BASE REVISIONS. FIGURES MAY NOT BE COMPARABLE WITH PREVIOUS REPORTS. GLOBAL DATA MAY USE DIFFERENT SOURCES vs. LOCAL AND REGIONAL DATA, SO SUMS MAY NOT CORRELATE. WHERE AVAILABLE, VALUE FOR URBANISATION NOW USES THE UN’S “DEGREE OF URBANISATION” METHODOLOGY. IMPORTANT: NEGATIVE VALUES MAY INDICATE SOURCE CORRECTIONS, AND MAY NOT REPRESENT DECREASES IN ADOPTION OR USE. WHERE VALUES ARE “[N/A]”, COMPARISONS WITH HISTORICAL DATA WILL PRODUCE INACCURATE RESULTS. SEE NOTES ON DATA.
These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Eritrea for 2027, 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 Eritrea.
Population of Eritrea in 2027
Data from the United Nations indicates that the population of Eritrea stood at 3.70 million in October 2026.
The same dataset also shows that Eritrea’s population increased by 76 thousand (+2.1 percent) between the end of 2025 and the end of 2026.
Meanwhile, according to the United Nations’ “degree of urbanisation” data for late 2026, 64.6 percent of Eritrea’s population lived in towns and cities, whereas 35.4 percent lived in rural areas.
At that time, 50.6 percent of Eritrea’s population was female, while 49.4 percent of the population was male.
Note: gender data were only available for “female” and “male” at the time of report production.
OCT
2026
SOURCES: UNITED NATIONS; MANOCHI ANALYSIS. NOTE: WHERE LETTERS ARE SHOWN NEXT TO FIGURES ABOVE BARS, “K” DENOTES THOUSANDS (E.G. “123 K” = 123,000), “M” DENOTES MILLIONS (E.G. “1.23 M” = 1,230,000), AND “B” DENOTES BILLIONS (E.G. “1.23 B” = 1,230,000,000). WHERE NO LETTER IS PRESENT, VALUES ARE SHOWN AS IS. COMPARABILITY: BASE REVISIONS. FIGURES MAY NOT CORRELATE WITH VALUES PUBLISHED IN OUR PREVIOUS REPORTS.
Eritrea’s population by age
At the end of 2026, the median age of Eritrea’s population was 19.5, with half of Eritrea’s population above this age, and the other half of the population below it.
For added context, here’s how Eritrea’s total population broke down by age group at the end of the year, according to the United Nations’ data:
13.2 percent was between the ages of 0 and 4.
19.1 percent was between the ages of 5 and 12.
11.9 percent was between the ages of 13 and 17.
15.2 percent was between the ages of 18 and 24.
15.2 percent was between the ages of 25 and 34.
9.1 percent was between the ages of 35 and 44.
7.0 percent was between the ages of 45 and 54.
5.1 percent was between the ages of 55 and 64.
4.3 percent was aged 65 and above.
Note: percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.
Mobile connections in Eritrea in 2027
Data from GSMA Intelligence shows that there were 933 thousand cellular mobile connections in Eritrea at the end of 2026.
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 Eritrea beyond 100 percent, and GSMA Intelligence’s numbers indicate that mobile connections in Eritrea were equivalent to 25.2 percent of the total population in October 2026.
Looking at trends over time, the number of mobile connections in Eritrea increased by 73 thousand (+8.5 percent) between the end of 2025 and the end of 2026.
OCT
2026
SOURCE: GSMA INTELLIGENCE. NOTES: EXCLUDES CELLULAR IOT CONNECTIONS. WHERE LETTERS ARE SHOWN NEXT TO FIGURES ABOVE BARS, “K” DENOTES THOUSANDS (E.G. “123 K” = 123,000), “M” DENOTES MILLIONS (E.G. “1.23 M” = 1,230,000), AND “B” DENOTES BILLIONS (E.G. “1.23 B” = 1,230,000,000). WHERE NO LETTER IS PRESENT, VALUES ARE SHOWN AS IS. COMPARABILITY: BASE CHANGES. SEE NOTES ON DATA.
Meanwhile, GSMA Intelligence’s data suggests that 62.2 percent of mobile connections in Eritrea 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 Eritrea in 2027
At the time of report production, Manochi’s analysis of the latest available data indicated that there were 741 thousand internet users in Eritrea in October 2026.
This means that Eritrea’s internet penetration rate stood at 20.0 percent of the total population at the end of 2026.
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.
OCT
2026
SOURCES: MANOCHI ANALYSIS; ITU; GSMA INTELLIGENCE; EUROSTAT; GOOGLE’S ADVERTISING RESOURCES; CNNIC; KANTAR & IAMAI; GOVERNMENT RESOURCES; UNITED NATIONS. NOTE: WHERE LETTERS ARE SHOWN NEXT TO FIGURES ABOVE BARS, “K” DENOTES THOUSANDS (E.G. “123 K” = 123,000), “M” DENOTES MILLIONS (E.G. “1.23 M” = 1,230,000), AND “B” DENOTES BILLIONS (E.G. “1.23 B” = 1,230,000,000). WHERE NO LETTER IS PRESENT, VALUES ARE SHOWN AS IS. COMPARABILITY: SOURCE AND BASE CHANGES. ALL FIGURES USE THE LATEST AVAILABLE DATA, BUT SOME SOURCES DO NOT PUBLISH REGULAR UPDATES, SO FIGURES FOR RECENT PERIODS MAY UNDER-REPRESENT ACTUAL USE. SEE NOTES ON DATA.
Manochi’s analysis of this data indicates that the reported number of internet users in Eritrea increased by 15 thousand (+2.1 percent) between October 2025 and October 2026.
And for added perspective, Eritrea’s internet adoption rate (i.e. the percentage of the total population that uses the internet) remained unchanged during the same period.
It’s important to stress that changes in internet user numbers can also be influenced by overall changes in population though, while changes in internet adoption rates may be the result of revisions and updates to data reporting, and consequently may include a degree of change that occurred before our stated reporting period.
But these user figures also suggest that 2.96 million people in Eritrea did not use the internet at the end of 2026, which would mean that 80.0 percent of the population remained “offline” at the end of that 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 Eritrea in 2027
Proprietary analysis conducted by Manochi on behalf of DataReportal indicates that there were 22.5 thousand active social media user identities in Eritrea in October 2026.
For perspective, this figure was equivalent to 0.6 percent of Eritrea’s total population at the end of 2026.
However, while Manochi’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 reported ad 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 largest individual social media platform in that country.
Even in such cases, however, the potential audience reach values reported by individual social media platforms may exceed the values that we report for the total population, for the population in specific age groups, or for a country’s total internet user base.
We recognise that such anomalies may seem implausible, but — because these are figures reported by the platforms themselves — we’ve elected to publish values “as is”, because these anomalies may offer valuable insights in their own right (you can find more details in our extensive notes on data). These anomalies are one of the primary reasons why we refer to “social media user identities” instead of “social media users”.
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.
This is particularly pertinent when it comes to trends in social media use over time, and we recommend that readers use the change figures published below, rather than trying to re-calculate growth figures using data published in our previous reports.
And on that note, Manochi’s analysis shows that social media user identities in Eritrea increased by 1,300 (+6.1 percent) between late 2025 and the end of 2026.
OCT
2026
SOURCES: MANOCHI ANALYSIS; COMPANY ADVERTISING RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS; CNNIC; BETA RESEARCH CENTER; MEDIASCOPE; OCDH; ARAB SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT; TECHRASA; CAFEBAZAAR. NOTE: WHERE LETTERS ARE SHOWN NEXT TO FIGURES ABOVE BARS, “K” DENOTES THOUSANDS (E.G. “123 K” = 123,000), “M” DENOTES MILLIONS (E.G. “1.23 M” = 1,230,000), AND “B” DENOTES BILLIONS (E.G. “1.23 B” = 1,230,000,000). WHERE NO LETTER IS PRESENT, VALUES ARE SHOWN AS IS. ADVISORY: SOCIAL MEDIA USER IDENTITIES MAY NOT REPRESENT UNIQUE INDIVIDUALS. COMPARABILITY: SOURCE AND METHODOLOGY CHANGES; BASE REVISIONS. SEE NOTES ON DATA.
Turning our attention to user demographics, data published in the ad planning tools of top social media platforms indicates that there were 22.5 thousand user identities aged 18 and above using social media in Eritrea at the end of 2026, which was equivalent to 1.1 percent of the total population aged 18 and above.
At that time, 41.9 percent of Eritrea’s social media user identities were female, while 58.1 percent were male.
And for added context, it may be helpful to know that 3.0 percent of Eritrea’s total internet user base (regardless of age) used at least one social media platform in October 2026.
Note: due to source data limitations, we’re only able to report gender data for “female” and “male”.
Facebook users in Eritrea in 2027
Data published in Meta’s advertising resources indicate that Facebook had 18.3 thousand users in Eritrea in late 2026.
However, Meta has made important changes to the way its advertising resources report audience reach data over recent months — including making meaningful revisions to published audience data — so the figures shown here may not be directly comparable with figures published in our previous reports.
To learn more about these changes, please see our extensive notes on data.
Facebook user growth in Eritrea
Figures published in Meta’s own tools indicate that Facebook’s potential ad reach in Eritrea decreased by 1,750* (-8.8 percent) between October 2025 and October 2026.
For more recent context, the same data show that the number of users that marketers could reach with ads on Facebook in Eritrea decreased by 750* (-3.9 percent) in the three months between July 2026 and October 2026.
However, it’s important to stress that Meta’s advertising reach figures are not the same as the active user figures that the company may report in its investor earnings announcements, and they should not be interpreted as such.
As Meta states in a note published in its ad planning tools,
“Estimated audience size is not a proxy for monthly or daily active users, or for engagement. Estimates aren’t designed to match population, census estimates or other sources, and may differ depending on factors such as how many accounts across Meta technologies a person has, how many temporary visitors are in a particular geographic location at a given time, and Meta user-reported demographics.”
As a result, changes in ad reach may not necessarily indicate any change in the overall user bases of Meta’s platforms.
But despite these caveats, Meta’s ad reach data still offers valuable insights into how Facebook use is evolving, so let’s take a closer look.
*Important note: in addition to regular changes in active user numbers, social media platforms may revise or “correct” the audience reach figures that they report in their advertising tools, and these interventions may result in an apparent decline in reported reach.
For example, platforms may remove accounts that do not meet their terms of service — such as when users create duplicate or “false” accounts — or when they suspect accounts to be engaging in “inauthentic” activity.
On occasion, these platform “corrections” may result in meaningful changes in reported reach, and such adjustments may significantly distort trends and values for change over time.
However, in many cases, such declines in reported ad reach do not indicate any change in legitimate platform use by “real” humans, and should not be interpreted as such.
As a result, we recommend significant caution when interpreting trends relating to negative changes in reported audience reach.
Please see our detailed notes on data to learn whether our analysis has detected such changes in relevant figures.
Facebook adoption in Eritrea
Facebook’s ad reach in Eritrea was equivalent to 0.5 percent of the total population at the end of 2026.
Meta only allows people aged 13 and above to use Facebook though, so it’s worth highlighting that 0.7 percent of the “eligible” audience in Eritrea used Facebook at the time of writing.
Furthermore, it may be useful to know that the company’s data indicates that 0.9 percent of adults aged 18 and above in Eritrea used Facebook at the end of 2026.
And for additional context, Facebook’s ad reach in Eritrea was equivalent to 2.5 percent of the local internet user base (regardless of age) in October 2026.
At the end of 2026, 44.3 percent of Facebook’s adult ad audience in Eritrea was female, while 54.6 percent was male.
Note: at the time of report production, Meta’s advertising tools only showed audience gender data for “female” and “male” users. However, the published figures for “female” and “male” users do not always sum to the published total figure, so the gender share values shown here may not sum to 100 percent.
▶ Looking for more Facebook stats? Click here to explore our in-depth Facebook data for every country in the world.
Instagram users in Eritrea in 2027
Numbers published in Meta’s advertising tools indicate that Instagram had 22.5 thousand users in Eritrea in late 2026.
The company’s regularly revised figures suggest that Instagram’s ad reach in Eritrea was equivalent to 0.6 percent of the total population at the end of the year.
However, Meta only allows people aged 13 and above to use Instagram, so it’s also worth highlighting that 0.9 percent of the “eligible” audience in Eritrea used Instagram at the time of report production.
Meanwhile, data published in the company’s ad tools indicate that 1.1 percent of adults aged 18 and above in Eritrea used Instagram at the end of 2026.
Similarly, it may be helpful to know that Instagram’s ad reach in Eritrea at the end of 2026 was equivalent to 3.0 percent of the local internet user base (regardless of age).
In late 2026, 41.9 percent of Instagram’s adult ad audience in Eritrea was female, while 58.1 percent was male.
Note: at the time of report production, Meta’s advertising tools only showed audience gender data for “female” and “male” users. However, the published figures for “female” and “male” users do not always sum to the published total figure, so the gender share values shown here may not sum to 100 percent.
Instagram user growth in Eritrea
Data published in Meta’s planning tools show that Instagram’s potential ad reach in Eritrea increased by 1,300 (+6.1 percent) between October 2025 and October 2026.
On a quarterly basis, the company’s data also reveal that the size of Instagram’s ad audience in Eritrea decreased by 4,000* (-15.1 percent) between July 2026 and October 2026.
As we noted in the Facebook section above though, changes in the audience reach figures published in Meta’s ad planning tools do not necessarily correlate with overall changes in its platforms’ active user bases.
*Important note: to make better sense of these trends, please refer to our guidance on interpreting declines in platform reach towards the end of the Facebook section above.
▶ Looking for more Instagram stats? Click here to explore our in-depth Instagram data for every country in the world.
TikTok users in Eritrea in 2027
Figures published in TikTok’s advertising resources indicate that TikTok had 11.0 thousand users aged 18 and above in Eritrea in late 2026.
Note that TikTok allows marketers to target TikTok ads to users aged 13 and above via its advertising tools, but these tools only show audience data for users aged 18 and above.
And for context, TikTok’s figures indicate that TikTok ads reached 0.5 percent of all adults aged 18 and above in Eritrea at the end of 2026.
Meanwhile, TikTok’s ad reach in Eritrea was equivalent to 1.5 percent of the local internet user base at the end of the year, regardless of age.
In late 2026, 36.4 percent of TikTok’s adult ad audience in Eritrea was female, whereas 63.6 percent was male.
Note: at the time of report production, TikTok’s advertising resources only published audience gender data for “female” and “male” users.
TikTok user growth in Eritrea
Data published in TikTok’s own ad planning tools show that TikTok’s potential ad reach in Eritrea decreased by 1,000* (-8.3 percent) between the end of 2025 and late 2026.
Meanwhile, figures indicate that the potential reach of ads on TikTok in Eritrea decreased by 1,000* (-8.3 percent) between July 2026 and October 2026.
Having said that, ad audiences often only account for a subset of a platform’s total users, and given that TikTok’s ad tools only publish data for users aged 18 and above, it’s important to remember that trends in TikTok’s ad reach figures may not necessarily match changes in the platform’s overall user base.
*Important note: to make better sense of these trends, please refer to our guidance on interpreting declines in platform reach towards the end of the Facebook section above.
▶ Looking for more TikTok stats? Click here to explore our in-depth TikTok data for every available country.
LinkedIn users in Eritrea in 2027
Figures published in LinkedIn’s advertising resources indicate that LinkedIn had 13.0 thousand “members” in Eritrea in late 2026.
Note that LinkedIn’s advertising tools publish audience reach data based on total registered members, rather than the monthly active users that form the basis of the ad reach figures published by most other social media platforms.
As a result, these LinkedIn figures are not directly comparable with the figures for other social media platforms published on this page, or those shown in our Digital 2027 reports.
But caveats aside, the company’s own advertising reach figures suggest that LinkedIn’s audience in Eritrea was equivalent to 0.4 percent of the total population at the end of 2026.
LinkedIn’s advertising tools only publish data for users aged 18 and above though, so it may be more representative to state that LinkedIn’s ads reached 0.6 percent of Eritrea’s population aged 18 and above in late 2026.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn’s ad reach in Eritrea was equivalent to 1.8 percent of the local internet user base (regardless of age) at the end of the year.
In late 2026, 26.0 percent of LinkedIn’s ad audience in Eritrea was female, while 74.0 percent was male.
Note: at the time of report production, LinkedIn’s advertising resources only published audience gender data for “female” and “male” users.
LinkedIn user growth in Eritrea
Data published in LinkedIn’s planning tools show that LinkedIn’s potential ad reach in Eritrea increased by 1,000 (+8.3 percent) between the end of 2025 and the end of 2026.
On a quarterly basis, the company’s data reveal that the size of LinkedIn’s ad audience in Eritrea remained unchanged between July 2026 and October 2026.
However, because LinkedIn’s ad audience figures are based on total registered members rather than monthly active users, it’s unclear whether these trends might reflect changes in active LinkedIn use too.
▶ Looking for more LinkedIn stats? Click here to explore our in-depth LinkedIn data for countries all over the world.
Additional resources
Just before we get to the full report, here are some suggestions for further reading, which will provide additional context for our full set of Digital 2027 numbers for Eritrea:
Read our complete Digital 2027 Global Overview Report to get a comprehensive overview of the “state of digital” around the world in 2027.
Click here to see all of the Global Digital Reports we’ve published for Eritrea over the years.
Explore all of our reports on countries in the Eastern Africa region by clicking here.
Find all of the reports in the Digital 2027 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.
Full report
You’ll find our complete Digital 2027: Eritrea report in the embed below (click here if you can’t see that, or if you can’t move through the slides).