#FactFriday Whether it’s to-dos, meeting invitations, or newsletters: every day, numerous emails land in inboxes. 53 per day — that’s how many messages employees who use the internet in their jobs received in 2025. About one in seven (14 percent) even received more than 100 emails. This is shown by a recent survey conducted by the industry association Bitkom.
…and the number of emails keeps growing: While the average was still 26 per day in 2021, it rose to about 40 in 2024. And the email flood is expected to continue increasing in the future: in 2025, around 380 billion emails were sent worldwide every day. Researchers expect this number to exceed 400 billion per day by 2027.
Email remains the most important communication channel for many
In most companies, email is still the most important communication channel, as another Bitkom survey shows. All respondents stated that they use this method “very frequently” for both internal and external communication.
The simple and convenient use of emails makes them so popular. They can be sent within seconds, and a wide range of providers enables platform-independent use.
Even though a large proportion of emails is unimportant and half of all messages worldwide are spam, unopened emails and overflowing inboxes can drive some people to despair. It creates the feeling of having an endlessly long to-do list in front of you that cannot be completed.
Strategies against “email stress”
There are strategies to counteract “email stress”. Examples include:
- Setting specific time slots for checking emails
- Disabling notifications for new emails
- Categorising and prioritising messages
- Using email filters to regularly clean up the inbox
Sources: bitkom.org, Statista, SZ, University of Hamburg
