VPN usage is exploding in the UK — here's how it compares to Europe and the US

• The UK now ranks #8 worldwide for VPN adoption
• There's been over 10.7 million VPN downloads in the first half of 2025
• The Online Safety Act appears to be behind what could be another record breaking year

The UK has become one of the world's fastest-growing VPN markets, according to independent research by Cybernews. Additionally, the UK ranks eighth worldwide for VPN adoption at the time of writing.

The UK is now the leading G7 nation in terms of VPN use, and one of only three European countries included in the top 10 list.

Data shows the UK logged over 10.7 million VPN app downloads in the first half of 2025, surpassing countries such as the US, France, and Germany.

With more Brits now searching for the best VPN service to protect their privacy, the UK is on track to break another record this year based on the number of downloads.

The UK is one of the leading countries worldwide for VPN use

According to the latest research carried out by Cybernews, the UK is now among the top 10 countries worldwide for VPN adoption. The data puts the UK ahead of digital heavyweights like the US, Germany, France, and Japan.

To decipher its VPN adoption figures, Cybernews turned to app downloads across the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, then compared them to the population of each country.

It's not an ideal method, as some people may not use mobile apps, and others may download more than once. Besides, store regions won't always reflect a person's physical location, so the data may be skewed. However, with that margin of error in mind, this is still one of the most useful glimpses into VPN adoption we've seen in recent years.

VPN usage in the UK has accelerated sharply since 2021. Cybernews data puts 2021 adoption at 15.80%, followed by a surge in 2022 to 21.70%. It's been on a steady, but slower, rise since, hitting 23.16% in 2023 and 24.08% in 2024.

The data for the first half of 2025 is promising, too. The UK has already achieved 15.38% in H1 2025, so if this trend continues in the second half of the year, we might see another major surge in VPN downloads.

In terms of the sheer number of downloads, the first half of 2025 is already nearing the total for 2024. 16.65 million downloads were recorded in 2024; meanwhile, the first half of 2025 alone has seen 10.70 million downloads.

Between 2020 and H1 2025, the top 3 countries in terms of VPN adoption are the UAE (with a whopping 65.78%), Qatar (55.43%), and Singapore (38.23%). The Netherlands leads the way for Europe with 21.77%, followed by the UK with 19.63%. Luxembourg closes the list with 17.30%.

The role of the Online Safety Act in accelerating adoption

The Online Safety Act is a wide-ranging law that was passed in 2023, intending to protect internet users, especially children, from harmful content.

It requires tech companies, social media platforms, and websites to remove content that the UK's watchdog, Ofcom, deemed harmful or illegal, such as child abuse material, terrorism promotion, and deepfake pornography.

Additionally, the Act requires websites to enforce strict age verification and moderation for adult content. Under the act, users would need to prove their age by uploading their government-issued IDs.

As a result of this requirement for age verification, and more generally, privacy concerns, there was a surge in VPN usage across the UK to get around this requirement. VPN apps topped UK app stores, too.

The Online Safety Act only came into effect in late July 2025, so its true impact might only be seen as we get the full picture at the end of the year.

Other factors play a part in the rapid pace of VPN adoption in the UK, too. As Edvardas Garbenis, a Cybernews representative, told TechRadar, the UK has generally outpaced most EU markets over the past five years. Garbenis said: “A unique driver of VPN adoption in the UK is the scale and maturity of its digital space. The UK is Europe’s largest digital ad market with a dense, well-established publisher and affiliate ecosystem, so VPNs are advertised more, seen more, and tried more than in most EU markets.”

The UK isn't the only country that's on track to hit new heights in VPN adoption. VPN usage in Afghanistan recently spiked by 35,000% as a result of new social media restrictions imposed by the government. This, too, might show up in next year's data.