The Ultimate List of eLearning Statistics for 2025

Out of the many things that the internet revolutionized, one is the way we learn. Today, convention centers and classrooms are not the only way to gain new insights and learning experiences. Anyone anywhere can achieve their learning goals via online classes.

And it is already happening. Today, the education sector is unimaginable without eLearning tools, especially since the pandemic. The use of eLearning platforms in the corporate world is common and is considered an important training method. Plus, even on an individual level, people use online course platforms to learn and make money.

Scroll down to discover the most notable eLearning statistics for 2022 and beyond.

eLearning Statistics: A Global Phenomenon

1. The global eLearning market size surpassed US$ 250 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 21% from 2021 to 2027

(Assets KPMG, GMInsights)

The term ‘eLearning’ was coined back in 1998. Since then, the eLearning market has achieved tremendous 900% growth.

Today, the eLearning industry is valued at over US$ 250 billion, which will be more than a trillion dollars by 2027. North America (more than 35%) and Asia-Pacific (over 26%) regions dominate the eLearning industry.

New technologies, such as AI, VR, and cloud-based LMS will drive the online learning industry market growth at a steady pace (CAGR of 21%) between the forecasted period of 2021 to 2021.

On a side note, the eLearning industry is the fastest-growing market in the education industry.

2. The massive open online course (MOOC) industry is also growing and will have a market cap of US$ 374 billion by 2026

(Global News Wire)

Moreover, the MOOC system is revolutionizing the teaching and learning processes. For instance, teachers can reach a global audience from the comfort of their home; also, the courses are available 24/7 to the students.

The forecast highlights that the massive open online courses industry will witness a CAGR of 14.6% between 2019 and 2026, owing to the top educational institutions, well-qualified teachers, digital learning tools, and highly sophisticated internet infrastructure.

Back in 2019, the massive open online course industry was valued at US$ 144 billion, and is expected to be US$ 374.3 billion by 2026.

3. The global mobile eLearning industry will grow at a CAGR of 20% over the forecasted period 2020-2027

(Research and Market)

The current value of the mobile eLearning market is US$ 22.4 billion. However, the eLearning statistics indicate that it will be around by 2027.

The earlier forecasted CAGR of 14.63% was revised to 20% CAGR seeing the growing user preference for mobile devices to learn via online courses during the pandemic.

Once again, the US dominates the present mobile learning industry with over US$ 6 billion (¼th) in market share.

Nevertheless, the forecast from Research and Market indicates that China will contribute the most to future mobile learning growth with a CAGR of 25.1% during the forecasted period from 2020 to 2027.

4. 64% of trainees consider accessing their training from mobile devices essential

(Docebo, 2019)

As mentioned earlier, the mobile eLearning market is becoming popular. In fact, the eLearning trends indicate that mobile devices will be a core to guiding learning activities in the future.

To begin with, out of the 89% of mobile users who download apps, 50% download at least one app related to online education.

Coupled with mobile consumers completing their online courses 45% faster than desktop users, it is not difficult to see why smartphones are the go-to learning platform for many online learners.

Moreover, some 43% say mobile learning enhances their productivity compared to desktop or other formal training methods when it comes to employees.

Additionally, 71% of Millennials report they connect more with mobile learning than L&D (learning and development) delivered via desktop or face-to-face training.

Equally important to note, 27% of the global population are mobile-only users; in comparison, there are only 14% desktop-only users.

This indicates that institutions must facilitate their corporate e-Learning programs with smartphones to see significant upticks in employees’ skill-level, productivity, and performance.

The good news is that almost 70% of organizations that offer online learning have already streamlined their online courses for smartphone users.

5. 90% of organizations offer online courses for corporate training and employee training

(LinkedIn)

The eLearning market is not limited to college students alone. As much as 90% of companies provide digital learning tools for employees to learn.

In fact, corporate training alone is a $200 billion industry (accounting for both face-to-face comprehensive training programs and online learning).

A report from LinkedIn shows that talent developers, people managers, and even executives across all sectors depend on online education to meet the needs of today’s increasingly diverse, multi-generational workforce.

Leadership (74%), communication (66%), collaboration (50%), and other role-specific roles (50%) were the most critical areas of focus for talent development across global organizations in 2018.

LinkedIn’s online learning statistics reveal:

• 68% of employees prefer to go through an online course at work
• 58% of employees prefer to learn at their own pace
• 56% of employees will opt for online classes recommended by their managers
• 49% of employees prefer to opt for an online course at the point of need

Furthermore, 94% of employees say they would stay at an organization if it invested in their careers.

6. eLearning courses produce 86% fewer greenhouse gasses per person than face-to-face sessions.

(Shift eLearning)

In addition, since online learning is a remote-affair, there is no commute, reducing carbon emissions from transportation (90% less energy consumption per person).

More importantly, it is essential to realize that 85% of every dollar spent on classroom learning is actually spent on delivering it (travel, instructor’s time, and more such factors).

eLearning Statistics: The Real-World Impacts

7. It takes 60% less time to complete the same material via online courses than on-ground learning.

(Brandon Hall)

This is because eLearning resources are usually 25-30% shorter than classroom training. Also, e-Learning courses increase the learning retention rates (around 25-60%), which is far higher than traditional learning retention rates (around 8-10%).

When it comes to high school students, 60% choose online education, whereas 40% favor on-ground learning.

Furthermore, the Journal of Applied Psychology states that microlearning — content delivered in “bite-sized” pieces — makes learning 17 percent more effective than traditional learning.

8. 60% of consumers report that online learning helped them improve soft skills.

(BAU.edu)

Going back to 2017, 35% of higher education institutions had a distance learning program.

Just before the pandemic, the number was 57%. So yes, more than half of higher ed institutions in the US had some form of open educational resources.

Formerly, 4.9 million (19.5%) college students enrolled in the US took at least one of their courses online before 2020. 3% enrolled exclusively in distance learning programs.

Of which, 85% of college students said online learning experiences helped them improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Also, as much as 60% said e-Learning helped them improve soft skills.

9. 57.7% of online learners say distance learning is more flexible and convenient than on-ground learning

(ScienceDirect)

One of the substantial benefits of eLearning courses is that it allows students to learn at their own pace and time of their convenience. As a result:

• 50% say online learning is a more comfortable environment
• 47.1% of online learners said eLearning tools helped improve their technical skills
• 46.1% said digital learning gives them more ability to concentrate
• 45% said e-Learning had taught them self-discipline and responsibility

eLearning Statistics: The Corporate Angle

10. 23% of employees quit their jobs due to lack of employee training programs and development opportunities at their organization

(IBM’s The Value of Training)

And this is not something new. For example, LearnFiletered’s 2014 report on employee training showed that 12% of employees left an organization because it did not provide enough educational resources.

Today, almost 52% of employees say they choose an organization based on the company’s learning technologies.

Moreover, a large proportion of Millennials and the generations immediately after, the Gen Zers, expect their employers to provide them 24/7 access to online courses.

Furthermore, access to online courses comes with its own set of benefits. IBM’s eLearning statistics highlight that online learning drives employee engagement (18% boost) and makes them more productive. Also, nearly 6 out of 8 employers say eLearning courses lead to higher employee satisfaction.

Additionally, IBM’s corporate online learning statistics report that employees learning via eLearning program learned 5x more material in the same training time than employed trained via face-to-face sessions.

11. If companies replace instructor-based training with online learning, employees can save anywhere from 40 to 60% of their time.

(eLearning Industry)

Almost 50% of employees say they don’t find enough time for online training.

Plus, there are benefits attached to online learning. For instance, IBM’s corporate eLearning statistics reveal that the company saved US$ 200 million after switching to corporate eLearning.

Moreover, organizations can save up to 70% of money spent on corporate training if they adopt online learning platforms instead of instructor-led or flipped classrooms.

42% of companies say eLearning has led to increased revenue.

In fact, every one dollar spent on online training returns US$ 30, given the increased employee productivity. Also important to note, the organizations using eLearning technologies achieve an 18% boost in employee engagement.

12. More than half (51%) of US companies delivered at least one training session via eLearning courses before the pandemic; 77% now use online training.

(Shift eLearning)

Almost 72% of organizations say that online learning opportunities give them a competitive advantage, allowing them to be more capacitive to accommodate change.

The good news is that 47.1% of the Fortune 500 companies are already using eLearning technology to train their employees.

After the pandemic, 30% of Fortune 500 companies that shifted to online training have now returned to face-to-face training. But the important thing is that almost all of them still offer online learning courses as an alternative.

13. 93% of organizations worldwide are planning to adopt a learning management system

(Docebo, 2019, Global Market Insights)

The corporate eLearning industry will witness a CAGR of about 11.41% from 2018 to 2022.

93% of organizations say they are digitizing their existing training programs. Of which:

• 64% want to include open education resources (accessible to everyone, not just employees)
• 58% plan to introduce their own social networks to help online students
• 35% want to include user-generated content in their learning management systems
• 33% plan to develop MOOCs
• And over 30% want to incorporate games and simulations for better results

An interesting sidenote, 30% of global LMS buyers are large tech companies looking to provide their employees with an accessible and familiar training environment.

Not to mention, 65% of LMS users are C-level executives, according to the Global Market Insights report.

14. High-performing companies are 3.4x more likely to use traditional LMS, which is bad news!

(Docebo, 2020)

The problem is traditional LMS doesn’t cut it in today’s business environment. For instance, 40% of employees search Google before using the company’s LMS.

However, Docebo reports that this doesn’t mean that the company’s LMS does not have up-to-date information and relevant content. Instead, it simply means the traditional eLearning tools are not efficient enough to meet the learner’s needs.

Moreover, 80% of HR managers report they cannot overcome the skill gap even after incorporating eLearning tools for employee training.

Over 69% report less productivity and employee engagement. In addition, 67% are unable to meet their financial objectives.

This means that the organizations, aside from embracing online learning, must include the right mix of people to deliver the processes via online learning tools.

eLearning Statistics: The Academia

15. 53% of US school students say digital learning tools are extremely helpful for doing homework

(Statista’s Share of K-12 Students Report)

As of 2019, at least 63% of high school students were using digital learning tools daily in the US. In addition, 45% of elementary and 64% of middle school students were using digital learning tools.

However, many of these schools do not use digital learning tools to learn something new. 85% use it to learn something already taught in the classroom with exercises and practice questions.

As a matter of fact, only 35% use them to deliver online classes.

16. 81% of college students say digital learning tools are helping them boost their grades

(Statista’s Students Opinion Report, Statista’s Student Income Level Report )

Statista’s online education statistics report suggests that 36% of college students say eLearning platforms help organize their course schedules.

Another Statista’s online learning statistics on student opinions report that over 41% say eLearning appears to be better for them than a college-level classroom setting.

Furthermore, during the Covid-19, 30% of college students who took online classes said they completed their courses faster than classroom learning. At the same time, 13% of online students said they might need more time to complete the same course via online learning courses.

Nevertheless, the students enrolled for distance education in the US are usually from more affluent households (or make more than US$ 25000 annually on their own).

Only 13% of undergraduates and 16% of graduates enrolled for online education are from poorer households (or make less than US$ 25000 annually on their own).

Moreover, 50% of graduates and 52% of undergraduates enrolled for distance education in the US are female.

Another key point, the most popular fields of study among online college students are Social Sciences, Criminal Justice, and Law. 9% study these courses online entirely.

17. 28% of educational institutions in the US use BlackBoard, 37% use it for distance education enrollment

(Research)

In the US, the most popular eLearning platform is BlackBoard. Since the late 1990s, K-12 schools, higher education institutes, government and military projects, and businesses have used BlackBoard at some point of time.

The second most popular eLearning platform in the US is Canvas. 21% of educational institutions use Canvas in the US, 27% use it for distance learning.

Moodle (used by 25% of institutions) and D2L Brightspace (used by 13% of institutes) are the country’s third and fourth-most popular eLearning providers.

One of the most popular eLearning providers globally — Google Classroom — is popular in the blended learning category, meaning it is not suitable as an overall solution.

18. Over 73% of higher education institutions in the US use LMS to teach online.

(Research)

As mentioned earlier, the use of LMS in elementary, middle, and high schools is pretty much limited to revising something already taught in the classroom.

However, when it comes to higher institutions’ eLearning trends, over 73% use it for teaching something new.

Other most common functions of LMS in higher ed teachers are:

• 70% use it to create assignments
• 58% use it to create quizzes and tests
• 67% use LMS to create online programs
• 56% use it to record grades

Nevertheless, only 49% of educators considered online learning as effective as classroom learning before Covid. The good news is after experiencing the online learning atmosphere, over 59% of educators now say online learning is equally effective as on-ground learning.

eLearning Statistics: The Online Courses

19. The online course e-Learning market is expected to reach a market value of US$ 6.71 billion by 2014, with a CAGR of about 3%

(Podia)

In addition, North America will contribute 38% to future growth. And the online course eLearning market saw 2.17% growth in 2020 alone.

• As of 2021, Udemy is the most popular eLearning platform for learning new skills, with over 20K content creators and 43 million students enrolled.
• Teachable with 3K creators and 3 million online students is the second most popular eLearning platform for online courses.

Moreover, EDTech’s online education statistics report that online courses have a completion rate of 72%. One of the benefits of online courses: it increases student retention rates by 5x.

eLearning Statistics: The Bottlenecks

20. The self-paced e-learning market is declining with a -6.1% CAGR annually.

(Campus Technology, Ambient Insight)

An element of MOOC platforms, the self-paced e-Learning industry allowed students to learn at their own pace. However, the global e-learning market is expected to drop US$ 6.8 billion over the next five years.

The reason: the self-paced e-Learning industry is not particularly useful. With self-paced e-Learning, consumers have access to online materials 24/7. Yet, almost 67.1% do not complete their online courses.

Also important to note, out of the 114 countries (state of self-paced learning) surveyed by Ambient Insight, 77 show flat-to-negative growth rates.

21. Lack of connectivity (57.2%), data limit (55.9%), data speed (55%) are major hindrances in online learning.

(Unicef)

When online learning became a thing, over ⅔rd (1.3 billion) of school children aged 7-13 years old did not have access to the internet to learn via eLearning courses. The same was the case with people aged 15-24 years old: 763 million (63%) were unconnected at home.

22. Online learning is creating a socioeconomic divide.

(BBC, OECD)

The digital divide is perpetuating inequalities, both on a community level as well as international level. For example, online education statistics indicate that 58% of students from rich households have internet access globally. In comparison, only 14% of poor households have access to the internet.

Another interesting angle to the socioeconomic divide is that equal access does not imply equal opportunities.

That is to say, students from poor households are more likely to use the internet to play games, whereas more affluent students primarily use the internet to access information and learn.

OECD research based on 40 countries indicates that students from the wealthiest countries (like Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Norway) use the internet for accessing eLearning materials and digital courses.

eLearning Statistics: Future Trends

23. With AI — adaptive learning, social learning, video learning, gamification, LMS, and other eLearning industries will produce better results.

(Docedo, 2020)

75% of executives believe AI will enable their organizations to move into new businesses, given it will allow the workers to gain new skills easily. In addition, 85% believe AI will give them a competitive advantage in the market.

Yet, as of 2021, over 67% of organizations (3000 surveyed) didn’t have an AI strategy.

Nevertheless, The companies and institutions are now incorporating AI in their learning technologies. This will make their eLearning platforms more non-linear, personalized, and, ultimately, more effective.

eLearning’s Growth is Set to Continue

The above eLearning statistics show that the world is just getting started with online learning.

While it is true that online learning was common even before Covid-era, the pandemic accelerated its growth and adaptation.

To enumerate, not many educators considered online education as effective as classroom learning. Nevertheless, once online learning became a thing, they realized its benefits and changed their perception in favor of it.

The same is the case with the corporate world. The Fortune 500 companies which adopted online learning platforms because of the pandemic are now offering online learning as an alternative to the employees.

Yes, there are some prevalent challenges of online learning. However, it mostly has nothing to do with the online education system. Instead, it is a lack of resources for accessing online education.

The world couldn’t adapt to online learning immediately. But seeing the eLearning trends, the benefits, and the consumers’ positive perception of online education to on-ground learning, it is not difficult to presume that eLearning will be more relevant in the future.

Sources

1. Assets KPMG
2. GMInsights
3. Global News Wire
4. LinkedIn
5. BAU.edu
6. Research and Market
7. Shift Elearning
8. IBM’s The Value of Training
9. Brandon Hall
10. Learn.Filtered 2014
11. ScienceDirect
12. Campus Technology
13. Docebo, 2019
14. Statista’s Share of K-12 Students Report
15. Statista’s Students Opinion Report
16. Statista’s Student Income Level Report
17. BBC
18. OECD
19. Docebo, 2020
20. GMInsights
21. Research

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