In a world where technology is constantly changing and online security concerns are rising, a solid risk and compliance strategy is incredibly important. Ignoring this can be costly. We’ve gathered over 45 compliance and data privacy statistics for 2026, covering various aspects like the current state of compliance and data privacy, the risks of not complying and not securing data, compliance management, and industry trends.

 

Staying updated on data privacy trends is essential if you’re responsible for handling personal information, such as customer or employee data. This includes understanding the risks of data breaches, knowing relevant privacy laws, being aware of customer attitudes and concerns, and staying informed about emerging privacy issues related to smart devices and the Internet of Things.

 

So let’s get started. 

 

 

Importance of data privacy

 

Data privacy is not just a legal requirement; it’s a fundamental aspect of building trust and safeguarding individuals in our increasingly digital world. The importance of data privacy cannot be overstated, as it directly impacts individuals, businesses, and society at large.

 

• Trust and reputation: Maintaining the privacy of user data is crucial for building and preserving trust. Consumers are more likely to engage with organizations they trust to handle their information responsibly. A breach of data privacy can tarnish a company’s reputation and erode the trust it has worked hard to establish.

 

• Compliance with regulations: In an era of heightened awareness and stringent regulations, adherence to data privacy laws, such as the GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and ISR V2, is not just a best practice but a legal necessity. Violations can result in severe penalties, emphasizing the need for organizations to prioritize and uphold data protection standards.

 

• Individual empowerment: Respecting data privacy empowers individuals by giving them control over their personal information. When people have confidence that their data is handled responsibly, they are more likely to engage in online activities, share information, and contribute to a data-driven society.

 

• Risk mitigation: Cyber incidents can have far-reaching consequences, including financial losses, legal battles, and damage to relationships with customers or clients. Prioritizing data privacy is a proactive measure to mitigate the risks associated with potential breaches and cyber threats.

 

• Innovation and collaboration: A culture of data privacy fosters innovation and collaboration. When individuals feel secure about the protection of their data, they are more willing to participate in research, share insights, and contribute to the collective knowledge that drives advancements in various fields.

 

The current state of compliance

 

The compliance and data privacy landscape is undergoing a significant transformation, marked by the emergence of better technologies and regulations. The industry has experienced a dynamic shift in a few years, reflecting an intricate interplay of factors contributing to its evolving state.

 

Explore the changing dynamics of compliance, witnessing a surge in complexity and transformation in recent years.

 

1. According to the Coalfire Compliance Report 2023, nearly 70% of service organizations express the need to exhibit compliance with a minimum of six frameworks encompassing information security and data privacy taxonomies in 2023.

 

2. The 2023 Thomson Report reveals that the majority of compliance professionals allocate their time predominantly to identifying and assessing risks (56%) and monitoring compliance (52%).

 

3. PwC’s Global Risk Survey 2023 discloses that 40% of surveyed business and risk leaders report an enhanced approach to risk within their organizations to achieve more robust compliance with regulatory standards in the past 12 months. Among leaders in the top 5% of organizations, this figure rises sharply to 81%.

 

4. According to the 2023 Thomson Survey Report, 70% of business risk management experts have observed a shift away from a mere checkbox approach to compliance, moving towards a strategic perspective over the last three years.

 

 

5. As per Navex Global’s 2023, 76% of professionals in risk and compliance roles emphasize the crucial importance of ensuring their organization cultivates and sustains an ethical culture of compliance in their decision-making processes.

 

6. In a survey conducted by PwC in their 2021 Consumer Intelligence Series on ESG, 60% of business owners believe their organizations are dedicating larger resources to compliance with laws. Conversely, only 31% of purchasers share the same sentiment.

 

7. The Coalfire Compliance Report 2023 indicates that 59% of IT leaders report that their companies run several systems that need to comply with regulations.

 

8. As per Navex Global’s 2023, 83% of people related to compliance emphasize the importance of ensuring their organization’s adherence to relevant laws, policies, and regulations in their decision-making.

 

9. As outlined in the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2023, 73% of organizational leaders acknowledge the effectiveness of privacy regulations in reducing cyber risks, marking a significant rise from 39% in 2022.

 

10. The 2023 Thomson Survey reveals that 80% of corporate professionals affirm that their organizations recognize the value of compliance as an essential business advisory function. Additionally, 74% agree that compliance requirements actively contribute to, support, and enhance business activities.

 

11. According to Thomson Reuters’ Cost of Compliance Report 2023, compliance officials identified three main areas where compliance is taking an active role. These include determining risk appetite at 51%, cultivating a culture of demonstrable compliance at 58%, and assessing the efficacy of corporate governance systems at around 48%.

 

Compliance management statistics

 

Here are some top compliance management statistics:

 

12. According to the MetricStream State of Compliance Survey Report 2021, implementing policy and procedure improvements, conducting control testing, and managing compliance assessments were cited by 44% of firms as their primary compliance management problems.

 

13. According to Navex Global’s 2023, 65% of respondents stated that they have sufficient or very sufficient funding to audit, document, analyze, and act on the results of compliance efforts. Additionally, 62% reported having sufficient or very sufficient staffing for these tasks.

 

14. According to the MetricStream State of Compliance Survey Report 2021, 76% of compliance specialists manually check regulatory sites for updates and evaluate how they will affect their company.

 

15. In 2023, compliance and risk professionals highlighted their top policy management challenges, such as training employees on policies (42%) and aligning policies with changing regulations (38%). This indicates some improvement from the 2022 survey, where 48% cited training employees on policies and 40% mentioned aligning policies with changing regulations, according to Navex Global’s Benchmark Report.

 

16. In the Navex Global Survey, a notably larger proportion of compliance professionals characterized their programs as mature—either managing or optimizing—in 2023 compared to 2022. Over half (53%) indicated that their organizations were on the mature side of the spectrum, a significant increase from the 38% reported in 2022, according to Navex Global’s Benchmark Report.

 

17. Large companies with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion list enhanced evidence mapping as the primary method (64%) to effectively demonstrate compliance with multiple frameworks, as per the Coalfire Report 2023.

 

18. In response to the question of what would help reduce the complexity and cost of the compliance process, almost half (49%) of surveyed business professionals pointed to standardizing risk management frameworks across their organization, according to the 2023 Thomson Reuters Survey.

 

19. A mere 6% of risk management personnel described their programs as underdeveloped or the least mature, as per the findings in Navex Global’s 2023 Report.

 

20. The Coalfire Report 2023 discloses that 23% of security and IT professionals consider staying informed about and interpreting new requirements and regulations affecting the organization to be the primary challenge in their compliance programs.

 

21. The Coalfire Compliance Survey 2023 highlights that most security and IT leaders (62%) use mapping controls and systems across frameworks to manage the impact of complying with multiple compliance frameworks.

 

22. The Coalfire Compliance Survey reveals that 60% of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) users continue manually managing compliance using spreadsheets.

 

Dangers of non-compliance

 

Following are the statistics on the risks related to non-compliance for better understanding to mitigate the risk: 

 

23. The leading impediments to a team’s confidence in addressing compliance risks include a shortage of knowledgeable personnel, insufficient resources, and unsupportive company culture, as outlined in the 2023 Thomson Reuters Survey.

 

24. In cases where non-compliance with regulations was a contributing factor, breaches incurred an average cost of almost $220,000 more, according to findings from IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023.

 

25. According to the 2023 Thomson Risk & Compliance Survey, three out of five business experts express confidence in their ability to address compliance risks.

 

26. 77% of firms have developed plans to move to the upcoming modifications of frameworks within allowable timelines, indicating a greater understanding of the consequences of revisions and the necessity of taking proactive steps to ensure compliance. Furthermore, as the Coalfire Compliance Report notes, 21% of firms plan to wait for the results of an external audit before taking any action.

 

27. Companies facing significant regulatory noncompliance faced a cost of $5.05 million, marking a 12.6% rise compared to the general cost of a data breach, which is $560,000, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023.

 

28. In the past three years, 19% of professionals in compliance and risk handling roles reported experiencing compliance issues, with legal or regulatory actions taken by a governing body against their organization being the third most commonly cited problem, according to Navex Global’s 2023 Benchmark Report.

 

29. The 2022 PwC Pulse Survey revealed the biggest danger to their business expansion, according to 35 percent of risk professionals, is regulatory risk; cyber and information risk came in second.

 

Data privacy statistics

 

Here are some of the data privacy statistics to give you a better idea of the data privacy landscape:

 

30. According to McKinsey, trust is cultivated by companies that only request information relevant to their products, as 52% of consumers indicated. Additionally, 50% express trust in companies that promptly address and respond to hacking incidents and breaches.

 

31. According to McKinsey, a mere 20% of consumers trust companies that vocalize their commitment to consumer privacy, indicating a preference for tangible actions over mere declarations.

 

32. In a recent survey conducted among U.S. consumers regarding data privacy, a significant 73% indicated an increased level of concern compared to the past few years, according to findings from SAS. 

 

33. Survey results from France, the UK, Germany, and the US highlight consumer concerns, with 78% prioritizing the security of their financial/banking information, followed by 75% expressing concern about security data and 70% about identity data. Medical data (61%) and contact data (57%) also feature prominently in consumer worries.

 

34. Globally, 63% of consumers express dissatisfaction with companies’ lack of transparency regarding their use of personal data. Nearly half (48%) have taken the step of discontinuing purchases from companies due to privacy concerns.

 

35. Researchers from the University of Maryland reveal a concerning statistic: on average, internet-connected computers face cyberattacks every 39 seconds.

 

36. Despite the desire for governmental involvement, the SAS survey also revealed that 66% of respondents acknowledge the primary responsibility for data security lies with the individual user.

 

37. Out of those surveyed by SAS, 64% expressed a belief that their data is currently less secure than it was in previous years. In comparison, 67% asserted that the government should play a more proactive role in safeguarding data privacy.

 

Compliance 2026 trends 

 

Following are the compliance trends you will get to see in 2026: 

 

38. The Coalfire Report reveals that 77% of IT professionals and security leaders plan to transition to updated frameworks, such as PCI DSS 4.0, within 18 months.

 

39. According to the Thomson Reuters Survey, 61% of business compliance experts identified staying informed about upcoming regulatory and legislative changes as their top strategic priority for the next 12 to 18 months.

 

40. Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) is anticipated to increase within compliance departments, with 48% of surveyed professionals expressing the belief that AI could enhance internal efficiency. Additionally, 35% saw the potential for AI to assist in staying abreast of upcoming regulatory and legislative changes, as reported in the 2023 Thomson Reuters Risk & Compliance Survey Report.

 

41. A majority (61%) of respondents, according to Thomson Reuters’ Cost of Compliance Report, anticipate an increase in the cost of senior compliance officers, with 51% expecting a slight increase and 10% anticipating a significant increase. This is a slight decline from the 67% reported in 2022.

 

42. In the 2023 Thomson Survey Report, 57% of business professionals noted that compliance roles in their companies have become more specialized, and 53% mentioned addressing increased regulatory scrutiny with more sophisticated technologies.

 

 

43. Navex Global’s 2023 indicates that more than half of compliance and risk professionals consider managing data privacy (53%) and IT/information security risk (52%) essential for their organizations. There is an anticipated increase in the interdependence between IT and compliance.

 

44. According to Okta’s State of Zero Trust Security 2021 Report, 78% of companies worldwide assert that zero trust has gained increased priority, with nearly 90% actively working on a zero trust initiative.

 

45. Thomson Reuters’ Cost of Compliance Survey 2023 states that 45% of companies anticipate increased compliance involvement in cyber resilience in the coming years.

 

46. In agreement with Thomson Reuters’ Cost of Compliance 2023, 63% of business compliance experts acknowledged an increase in the insourcing of compliance work at their organizations over the past two years. Furthermore, 39% confirmed ongoing annual growth in insourcing.

 

47. Thomson Reuters’ Cost of Compliance Survey 2023 reports that 33% of respondents predict growth in their compliance teams over the next 12 months, a slight decrease from the 35% reported in 2022.

 

Secure your compliance and cyber security posture with CyberArrow

 

We have explored over 47 compliance and data privacy statistics in this article. Irrespective of the sector, it is essential to implement effective data privacy and compliance measures for successful business operations in today’s business landscape. Evaluating and overseeing your enterprise’s continuous compliance strategy can lead to significant cost savings and enhance your overall security stance. 

 

Explore how CyberArrow simplifies and automates the entire compliance process, enabling you to achieve and maintain compliance efficiently. 

 

Schedule a free demo to discover more about the time-saving benefits of the CyberArrow compliance automation platform.

 

Read how Emirates Development Bank ensures continuous cybersecurity compliance by using CyberArrow.