![9% Read Terms of Service in Full [2026 Data]](/_astro/what-percentage-of-people-read-terms-of-service.BFHrGVrV_ZHynuo.webp)
Only 9% of US adults read a terms of service agreement all the way through before accepting it, according to Deloitte's 2017 Global Mobile Consumer Survey of 2,000 US adults, and the figure drops to just 3% among 18 to 34 year olds. On the other side of that number, 91% of all adults, and 97% of the youngest age group, say they accept legal terms without reading them at all. Below is the full breakdown by age and reading frequency, plus how the terms of service read rate compares to privacy policy reading behavior.
What percentage of people read terms of service before agreeing?
Deloitte's 2017 Global Mobile Consumer Survey, fielded to 2,000 US adults, asked directly whether consumers read the legal terms and conditions presented to them before accepting. Only 9% said they read the terms in full, and 91% said they are willing to accept legal terms and conditions without reading them.
| Source | Sample | Full-read rate | Skip rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey (2017) | 2,000 US adults | 9% | 91% |
| Deloitte, ages 18 to 34 (2017) | Subset of above | 3% | 97% |
Figure 1 shows the same 9% and 91% split illustrated above the fold. Source: Deloitte, "Global Mobile Consumer Survey: US Edition" (2017).
That 9% figure has held up as the most-cited terms of service read rate in the years since, in part because no larger US survey has repeated the exact question at the same national scale. Deloitte's release did not publish a formal margin of error for the individual terms and conditions question, so treat 9% as the headline estimate from the largest available named US sample rather than a figure with a published confidence interval.
How does terms of service reading differ by age group?
The 9% national full-read rate is not evenly distributed across age groups. Deloitte's same 2017 survey found that among 18 to 34 year olds, the group most likely to be signing up for new apps, subscriptions, and accounts, only 3% read terms of service in full, and 97% accept without reading.
Figure 2: Terms of service reading and skipping rates by age group. Source: Deloitte, "Global Mobile Consumer Survey: US Edition" (2017), 2,000 US adults.
The gap matters for site owners because younger users are disproportionately the ones agreeing to terms without reading a single clause, which puts more weight on the terms actually being fair and clearly written rather than relying on a reader to catch a problematic clause before accepting. A business that wants terms visitors could plausibly read, even if most will not, can generate a plain-language terms of service instead of dense legal copy that discourages reading further.
How often, not just whether, do people read terms of service?
Whether someone reads terms of service at all is only part of the picture. A Brookings Institution survey of 2,006 US internet users, conducted May 8 to 10, 2019 through Google Surveys, asked how often people read terms of service before consenting, not just whether they ever do. 32% said they never read the terms, 39% said they read them sometimes, and only 20% said they read them most of the time, with the remainder unsure.
Figure 3: Reading frequency reported by 2,006 US internet users. Source: Brookings Institution, "Brookings Survey Finds Three-Quarters of Online Users Rarely Read Business Terms of Service" (2019).
Combining the never and sometimes categories, 71% of respondents read terms of service inconsistently at best, which the survey's author described as showing the ineffectiveness of notice-and-consent as a practical safeguard. Only one in five users can be relied on to read terms of service most of the time, a narrower group than even Deloitte's 9% full-read figure suggests, since reading most of the time is a lower bar than reading every document in full. This reading-frequency question is one slice of a wider dataset on document length and trust, which the terms of service statistics roundup covers in full alongside word counts and reading-level scores.
Do more people read privacy policies than terms of service?
Terms of service and privacy policies are different documents, but they are frequently accepted in the same sign-up flow, so it is worth asking whether one gets read more than the other. Pew Research Center's June 2019 survey of 4,272 US adults found that 9% always read a company's privacy policy before agreeing, an almost exact match to Deloitte's 9% terms of service full-read figure from the same year.
| Survey | Document | Question asked | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deloitte (2017) | Terms of service | Read in full before accepting | 9% |
| Pew Research Center (2019) | Privacy policy | Always read before agreeing | 9% |
| Brookings Institution (2019) | Terms of service | Read most of the time | 20% |
The two 9% figures come from different survey organizations, different years, and slightly different question wording, so treat the match as a directional signal rather than a controlled comparison. Both point to the same underlying pattern: whichever legal document a site presents, the share of users who commit to reading it fully sits in the single digits, and the share who read it at least most of the time still falls well short of half.
Why don't more people read terms of service?
Length and density help explain why reading rates stay this low across every survey that measures it. The combined terms of service and privacy policy across 70 digital services averaged 34,064 words in the Biggest Lie on the Internet project's 2019 policy length analysis, a research effort supported by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. At a standard 250 words-per-minute reading pace, that is roughly 2.7 hours per service, and Carnegie Mellon researchers Aleecia McDonald and Lorrie Faith Cranor calculated in their foundational 2008 study that reading every policy an average internet user agrees to in a year would cost about 244 hours.
Figure 4: Why the terms of service reading rate stays low across surveys. Source: Deloitte (2017); Biggest Lie on the Internet project (2019).
Length is within a site owner's control even when a visitor's reading habits are not. A terms of service document that states user obligations, liability limits, and dispute terms in plain language gives the 9% who do try to read it an actual chance to finish, and it is the same document a regulator or court checks first regardless of whether any individual visitor opened it.
Has the terms of service reading rate changed over time?
The pattern has been documented consistently for close to two decades, with each new study confirming rather than reversing the last one. McDonald and Cranor set the reading-cost baseline in 2008. Deloitte measured the 9% full-read and 91% skip rate for terms of service specifically in 2017. The Biggest Lie on the Internet project confirmed in 2019 that combined policy length remained firmly in the multi-hour range per service, and Brookings' 2019 survey confirmed that fewer than one in five people read terms of service most of the time.
Figure 5: Terms of service reading research from 2008 to 2019. Source: McDonald and Cranor (2008); Deloitte (2017); Brookings Institution (2019); Biggest Lie on the Internet project (2019).
No large-scale US survey has repeated Deloitte's exact terms-of-service reading question at the same national scale since 2017, and the Biggest Lie on the Internet project's length and complexity datasets date to 2019, so both remain the most-cited primary sources in this specific niche nearly a decade and half a decade on, respectively, because no larger replication has superseded either one.
The Bottom Line
Every survey that has asked the question, across three different research organizations and three different years, lands on the same conclusion: the share of people who read a terms of service agreement in full sits in the single digits, and the share who read it consistently rather than occasionally still falls short of one in five. That is not a reading-comprehension problem. It is a length and incentive problem, since the average combined policy runs past 34,000 words and gives a reader no visible penalty for skipping. For a site owner, the practical implication is the reverse of what the low reading rate might suggest: because so few visitors will ever read the terms, the terms carry more weight, not less, when a dispute, a regulator, or the rare careful reader actually opens the document. A terms of service generator built around clear, plain-language sections keeps that document usable for the 9% who try, and defensible for the 91% who will not.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of people read terms of service before agreeing? Only 9% of US adults read a terms of service agreement in full before accepting it, according to Deloitte's 2017 Global Mobile Consumer Survey of 2,000 US adults. The figure drops to 3% among 18 to 34 year olds, and 91% of all adults say they accept legal terms without reading them.
How does terms of service reading differ by age group? Younger adults read terms of service the least. Deloitte's 2017 survey found 91% of all US adults accept terms without reading, rising to 97% among 18 to 34 year olds, the group most likely to be signing up for new apps and accounts.
How often do people read terms of service, not just whether they read it at all? 32% of US internet users say they never read terms of service, 39% say they read them sometimes, and only 20% say they read them most of the time, according to a Brookings Institution survey of 2,006 US internet users conducted in May 2019.
Do more people read privacy policies than terms of service? The full-read rates land close together but come from different survey questions. Deloitte found 9% read terms of service in full in 2017, and Pew Research Center separately found 9% always read a privacy policy in 2019, from a survey of 4,272 US adults, so reading behavior looks similarly low across both document types.
Where the Numbers Come From
- Deloitte. (2017). "Global Mobile Consumer Survey: US Edition." Survey of 2,000 US adults. Source for the 91% accept-without-reading figure and, via the same survey wave, the 9% full-read, 3% and 97% age-18-to-34 figures.
- Brookings Institution. (2019). "Brookings Survey Finds Three-Quarters of Online Users Rarely Read Business Terms of Service." Survey of 2,006 US internet users conducted May 8 to 10, 2019 via Google Surveys. 32% never read, 39% sometimes, 20% most of the time.
- Pew Research Center. (2019). "Americans and Privacy: Concerned, Confused and Feeling Lack of Control Over Their Personal Information." Survey of 4,272 US adults conducted June 3 to 17, 2019. Source for the 9% always-read-a-privacy-policy comparison figure.
- The Biggest Lie on the Internet project. (2019). "A Policy Length Analysis for 70 Digital Services." Average combined terms of service and privacy policy length of 34,064 words, research supported by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
- McDonald, Aleecia M. and Cranor, Lorrie Faith. (2008). "The Cost of Reading Privacy Policies." A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, 4, 543 to 568. Foundational 244-hour-per-year reading-cost estimate.
Note: All figures verified as of August 2026. Deloitte's 2017 Global Mobile Consumer Survey and the Biggest Lie on the Internet project's 2019 dataset remain the most-cited primary sources specifically measuring terms of service reading rates and length, since no larger-scale US replication has been published since either was released. This post will be refreshed at least twice a year as newer survey data becomes available.
