The global data supply reached 2.8 zettabytes (ZB) in 2012 – or 2.8 trillion GB – but just 0.5% of this is used for analysis, according to the Digital Universe Study.

Volumes of data are projected to reach 40ZB by 2020, or 5.25 GB per person, with emerging economies accounting for an increasingly large proportion of the world’s total.

The report also contained a warning on data security, with levels of protection shown to be lagging behind the expansion in volume. In 2012 less than a fifth of the world’s data was protected, despite 35% requiring such measures.

via Study: less than 1% of the world’s data is analysed, over 80% is unprotected | News | guardian.co.uk.