In 2021, there were 1.21 billion monthly active users of Meta's Instagram, making up over 28 percent of the world's internet users. By 2025, it has been forecast that there will be 1.44 billion monthly active users of the social media platform, which would account for 31.2 percent of global internet users.

How popular is Instagram?

Instagram, as of January 2022, was the fourth most popular social media platform in the world in terms of user numbers. YouTube and WhatsApp ranked in second and third place, respectively, whilst Facebook remained the most popular, with almost three billion monthly active users worldwide.

India had the largest number of Instagram users as of January 2022, with a total of over 230 million users in the country. The second-largest Instagram audience could be found in the United States, with almost 160 million people subscribing to the photo and video sharing app.

Gen Z and Instagram

As of September 2021, Gen Z users in the United States spent an average of five hours per week on Instagram. Although Instagram ranked third in terms of hours per week spent on the platform, Gen Z users spent considerably more time on TikTok, amounting to a weekly average of over 10 hours being spent on the mobile-first video app.

Most followed accounts on Instagram

As of May 2022, Instagram’s own account had 504.37 million followers. In terms of celebrities, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@chistiano) had over 440.41 million followers on the social network. Moreover, the average media value of an Instagram post by Ronaldo was over 985,000 U.S. dollars.

The most liked post on Instagram as of May 2022 was Photo of an Egg, which was posted in 2019 by the account @world_record_egg. Photo of an Egg has not only exceeded 55 million likes on the platform, but it also has nearly 3.5 million comments, and the account itself has over 4.5 million Instagram followers. After mysterious posts published by the account, World Record Egg revealed itself as part of a mental health campaign aimed at the difficulties and demands of using social media.

Instagram’s most popular post As of June 2025, the most popular post on Instagram was Lionel Messi and his teammates after winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup with Argentina, posted by the account @leomessi. Messi's post, which racked up over 60 million likes within a day, knocked off the reigning post, which was 'Photo of an Egg'. Originally posted in January 2021, 'Photo of an Egg' surpassed the world’s most popular Instagram post at that time, which was a photo by Kylie Jenner’s daughter totaling 18 million likes. After several cryptic posts published by the account, World Record Egg revealed itself to be a part of a mental health campaign aimed at the pressures of social media use. Instagram’s most popular accounts As of April 2024, the official Instagram account @instagram had the most followers of any account on the platform, with 672 million followers. Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) was the most followed individual with 628 million followers, while Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) was the most followed woman on the platform with 429 million. Additionally, Inter Miami CF striker Lionel Messi (@leomessi) had a total of 502 million. Celebrities such as The Rock, Kylie Jenner, and Ariana Grande all had over 380 million followers each. Instagram influencers In the United States, the leading content category of Instagram influencers was lifestyle, with 15.25 percent of influencers creating lifestyle content in 2021. Music ranked in second place with 10.96 percent, followed by family with 8.24 percent. Having a large audience can be very lucrative: Instagram influencers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom with over 90,000 followers made around 1,221 US dollars per post. Instagram around the globe Instagram’s worldwide popularity continues to grow, and India is the leading country in terms of number of users, with over 362.9 million users as of January 2024. The United States had 169.65 million Instagram users and Brazil had 134.6 million users. The social media platform was also very popular in Indonesia and Turkey, with 100.9 and 57.1, respectively. As of January 2024, Instagram was the fourth most popular social network in the world, behind Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.

As of April 2025, Instagram was slightly more popular with men than women, with men accounting for 52.5 percent of the platform’s global users. Additionally, the social media app was most popular amongst younger audiences, with almost 31.6 percent of users aged between 25 and 34 years. Instagram’s Global Audience As of February 2025, Instagram was the third most popular social media platform globally, reaching two billion monthly active users (MAU). This number is projected to keep growing with no signs of slowing down, which is not a surprise as the global online social penetration rate across all regions is constantly increasing. As of February 2025, the country with the largest Instagram audience was India with 413.85 million users, followed by the United States with 171.7 million users. Who is winning over the generations? Even though Instagram’s audience is considerably larger than TikTok’s on a global scale, TikTok has shown itself to be a fierce competitor, particularly amongst younger audiences. TikTok was the most downloaded mobile app globally in 2024, generating 825.48 million downloads. As of 2022, Generation Z in the United States spent more time on TikTok than on Instagram monthly.

How many people use Instagram?

Instagram is a social media app which focuses on photo and video sharing. It is owned by Facebook, which recently rebranded as Meta, in a move towards the metaverse. As of December 2021, Instagram reached a new milestone of 2 billion active users worldwide. The platform previously reached 1 billion users in June 2018.

Users aged 25 to 34 years made up the biggest Instagram user group by age worldwide, followed by 18 to 24 year olds. Overall, men accounted for 51.6 percent of global Instagram users.

Most popular Instagram accounts and content

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was the most followed person on Instagram as of 2021, with approximately 315 million followers. Ranked in second and third position were the Rock and Ariana Grande, both having over 250 million followers each.

It’s not only athletes and actors who drive the views on Instagram though. Instagram has long since become a medium for people and communities to spread their messages, and in the past two years, social activists and educators have used Instagram for their movements. Political and educational accounts generate high engagement rates with their content. Posts from political accounts receive an average engagement rate of 2.74 percent and educational posts receive an average of 2.56 percent.

Social media usage worldwide

There are 3.4 billion social media users worldwide and this is expected to increase to 4.41 billion by 2025. Instagram is most popular in India with a total of 201.1 million users, followed by the U.S. with 157.1 million and Brazil with 114.9 million active users. Instagram is the fourth most popular social media site in the world, after Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp, respectively.

As of October 2021, Brunei was the country with the highest Instagram audience reach with 92 percent of the population using the platform. This was followed by Guam with 79.2 percent and the Cayman Islands with 78.8 percent audience reach.

As of October 2021, Facebook had almost 3 billion users worldwide. The penetration rate for Facebook in the United States in 2021 was 70.59 percent and it is expected to reach 76.87 percent by 2026.

There are over 2 billion registered users on Instagram in 2025.

59% of adults in the united states are using Instagram daily.

The most significant cohorts of users on Instagram are aged 18 – 24.

As of April 2025, almost 32 percent of global Instagram audiences were aged between 25 and 34 years, and 29.5 percent of users were aged between 25 and 34 years. Overall, 16.3 percent of users belonged to the 35 to 44 year age group. Instagram users With roughly one billion monthly active users, Instagram belongs to the most popular social networks worldwide. The social photo sharing app is especially popular in India and in the United States, which have respectively 413.85 million and 171.7 million Instagram users each. Instagram features One of the most popular features of Instagram is Stories. Users can post photos and videos to their Stories stream and the content is live for others to view for 24 hours before it disappears. In January 2019, the company reported that there were 500 million daily active Instagram Stories users. Instagram Stories directly competes with Snapchat, another photo sharing app that initially became famous due to it’s “vanishing photos” feature. As of the first quarter of 2025, Snapchat had 460 million daily active users.

Introduction

Instagram Demographics Statistics: Instagram is a popular platform known for its eye-catching visuals and user-generated content. With over 2 billion monthly active users, it offers a lively and engaged community for brands and businesses of all sizes.

This includes important user demographics, trends in usage, advertising insights, and the rise of video content. Understanding this information can help you improve your brand’s social media strategy and connect better with Instagram’s diverse audience.

There were 18 054 701 Instagram users in Pakistan in March 2024, which accounted for 7.7% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 64%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (8 700 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where men lead by 5 500 000.

As of January 2024, India had a total of 362 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. The United States had 169 million users, and Brazil had 134 million. Indonesia, Turkey, and Japan ranked in fourth, fifth and sixth position, respectively. Brunei is the leading country for Instagram audience reach, with 92 percent of the population using the social media service. Guam came in second, with a penetration rate of 79.2 percent and the Cayman Islands ranked third, with 78.8 percent, followed closely by Kazakhstan, Iceland and Montenegro. It took Instagram 11.2 years to reach the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, took 11 years, whilst Facebook took 13.3 years and YouTube took just over 14 years. Instagram’s demographics in the United States As of May 2021, Instagram was the fourth most visited social media service in the United States, after Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Out of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, TikTok was the most used of all three platforms by Generation Z. Overall, 57 percent of Gen Z social media users used Instagram, down from 61 percent in 2020 and 64 percent in 2019. Instagram finds most popularity with those in the 25 to 34 year age group, and as of December 2021, roughly a third of all users in the United States belonged to this age group. The social media app was also more likely to be used by women. Most followed accounts on Instagram Instagram’s official account had the most followers as of February 2022 with over 470 million followers. Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) had over 401 million followers on the platform and media personality and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) had over 309 million followers. National Geographic (@natgeo) had over 206.9 million followers, sharing educational content through its renowned photojournalism.

I’ve compiled a list of the latest social media user statistics showing just how big social media has become and where it’s likely to go in the future.

There were 392 465 000 Instagram users in India in June 2024, which accounted for 26.7% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 66.9%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (172 600 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 25 to 34, where men lead by 99 300 000.

In January 2019, photo sharing platform Instagram reported 500 million daily active Stories users worldwide, up from 400 million global DAU in June 2018. Stories is a feature of the app allowing users post photo and video sequences that disappear 24 hours after being posted. Instagram usage Instagram has over one billion monthly active users and is one of the most popular social networks worldwide. The app allows users to edit and share photos with other users, either publicly or with pre-approved followers. In 2018, the number of Instagram users in the United States was almost 105 million users, with U.S. Instagram audiences set to grow to 131 million users by 2022. As of April 2019, it was found that the United States, Brazil and India had the largest Instagram audiences with the United States heading the ranking by a wide margin. Users between the ages of 25 and 34 years constituted the biggest demographic group, followed by users aged 18 to 24 years. Overall, over two thirds of global Instagram audiences were aged 34 and younger. Advertising and marketing on Instagram Due to the visual nature of the platform, Instagram is a perfect opportunity for brands and retailers to display their products in a flattering way. Many celebrities and influencers generate a sizable income by posting ads in the form of sponsored posts on Instagram. In 2018, there were approximately 3.7 million sponsored influencer posts on the platform. The most popular content type of Instagram posts by influencers worldwide were photos – videos accounted for just 13.56 percent of influencer posts.

Facebook is fast approaching 3 billion monthly active users. That’s about 36% of the world’s entire population that log in and use Facebook at least once a month.

There were 89 891 300 Instagram users in Indonesia in January 2024, which accounted for 31.6% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 54.9%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (35 800 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where women lead by 12 500 000.

There were 22 431 800 Instagram users in Philippines in March 2024, which accounted for 18.9% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 61.2%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (10 400 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where women lead by 4 000 000.

There were 3 767 900 Instagram users in Hong Kong in February 2024, which accounted for 49.3% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 60.1%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (1 327 200). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 25 to 34, where women lead by 526 700.

There were 15 681 800 Instagram users in Malaysia in April 2024, which accounted for 44.4% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 55.6%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (5 600 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where women lead by 2 200 000.

The average Twitter user spends 5.1 hours per month on the platform.