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.

There were 155 600 000 Instagram users in United States of America in December 2022, which accounted for 45% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 55.7%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (43 200 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 12 300 000.

As of July 2025, almost 33.3 percent of global Instagram audiences were aged between 25 and 34 years, and 29.7 percent of users were aged between 18 and 24 years. Overall, 17.4 percent of users belonged to the 35 to 44-year-old 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 about 480 million and 181 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 its “vanishing photos” feature. As of the third quarter of 2025, Snapchat had 477 million daily active users.

According to information from NapoleonCat, the highest share of Instagram users in Indonesia, **** percent, were between the ages of 25 and 34 years as of December 2024. As of this date, there were approximately **** million Instagram users in Indonesia, of which **** percent were female and **** percent male. Indonesia's Instagram landscape Indonesia stood out as one of the countries with the largest Instagram audiences globally. Based on follower counts, Instagram in Indonesia is dominated by influencers with followers ranging from ** to ** thousand. As of June 2023, there were around **** thousand micro-influencers on Instagram in Indonesia. Standing out as the most followed influencer accounts were popular public figures such as Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina, Ayu Ting Ting, and Prilly Latuconsina. Influencer marketing trends in Indonesia As a prevalent platform for influencer marketing, Instagram held a significant share of nearly ** percent in such campaigns in Indonesia in 2022. Nowadays, influencers are key in swaying consumer purchasing decisions. A recent study revealed that ** percent of Indonesian consumers stated that Instagram influencers were the type of influencer whose endorsed products they would purchase. While Instagram can help consumers with their purchase decisions, an increasing number of brands are also leveraging influencer marketing to gain a larger consumer base. As of October 2022, Indonesian food and drink brands were the brands that leveraged influencer marketing the most. This was followed by fashion and beauty brands.

As of July 2025, around *****percent of global active Instagram users were men between the ages of 25 and 34 years. More than half of the global Instagram population worldwide was aged 34 years or younger. Teens and social media As one of the biggest social networks worldwide, Instagram is especially popular with teenagers. As of fall 2023, the photo-sharing app ranked third in terms of preferred social network among teenagers in the United States, following TikTok and Snapchat. Instagram was one of the most influential advertising channels among female Gen Z users when making purchasing decisions. Teens reported feeling more confident, popular, and better about themselves when using social media and less lonely, depressed, and anxious. However, social media can also have negative effects on teens, which can be much more pronounced on those with low emotional well-being. It was found that ** percent of teenagers with low social-emotional well-being reported having experienced cyberbullying when using social media, while in comparison only **** percent of teenagers with high social-emotional well-being stated the same. As such, social media can have a big impact on already fragile states of mind.

As of January 2024, Instagram was slightly more popular with men than women, with men accounting for 50.6 percent of the platform’s global users. Additionally, the social media app was most popular amongst younger audiences, with almost 32 percent of users aged between 18 and 24 years.

              Instagram’s Global Audience

              As of January 2024, Instagram was the fourth 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 January 2024, the country with the largest Instagram audience was India with 362.9 million users, followed by the United States with 169.7 million users.

              Who is winning over the generations?

              Even though Instagram’s audience is almost twice the size of 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 2022, generating 672 million downloads. As of 2022, Generation Z in the United States spent more time on TikTok than on Instagram monthly.

As of October 2025, India had the largest Instagram audience worldwide, with 480.55 million users. The United States ranked second with 181.75 million users, followed by Brazil with 147 million. However, Turkey recorded the highest audience reach, with 92.1 percent of its population using the platform. It took Instagram 11.2 years to reach the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. Instagram’s demographics in the United States As of March 2025, Instagram was the fourth most visited social media service in the United States, after Facebook, Pinterest and X. 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 in 2021, 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 January 2025, roughly 28.3 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 April 2024 with over 672 million followers. Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) had over 628 million followers on the platform, while the Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi (@leomessi) had over 502 million followers. The Instagram accounts of the American singer and actress Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) and the media personality and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) had over 400 million followers each.

Instagram’s most popular post

              As of April 2024, 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 61 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.

During a global 2024 survey among fashion, lifestyle and beauty professionals, around 75 percent of respondents indicated their main objective with influencer collaborations was to increase sales. Moreover, 70 percent had a similar objective with celebrity collaborations. Roughly 50 percent stated their aim was to build their following with influencer or celebrity collaborations.

There were 41 418 100 Instagram users in Mexico in January 2022, which accounted for 29.1% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 54.8%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (14 700 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where women lead by 6 600 000.

There were 243 500 Instagram users in Reunion in December 2022, which accounted for 26% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 53.6%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (74 900). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 17 900.

There were 41 200 Instagram users in Jersey in December 2022. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (11 700). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 3 900.

There were 2 906 100 Instagram users in Norway in December 2022, which accounted for 50.7% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 56.5%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (699 700). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 45 to 54, where women lead by 169 900.

There were 1 006 700 Instagram users in Jamaica in November 2022, which accounted for 34.7% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 52.6%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (365 700). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 25 to 34, where women lead by 171 500.

There were 1 460 300 Instagram users in Georgia in November 2022, which accounted for 37.5% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 57.9%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (474 600). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 96 800.

There were 3 582 400 Instagram users in Czechia in November 2022, which accounted for 33.6% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 54.5%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (1 112 800). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 245 200.

There were 64 200 Instagram users in Chad in December 2022, which accounted for 0.3% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 81.3%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (31 900). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where men lead by 26 200.

There were 2 167 200 Instagram users in Uruguay in June 2022, which accounted for 61% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 54.8%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (618 100). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 45 to 54, where women lead by 96 700.

There were 26 192 400 Instagram users in France in November 2022, which accounted for 39% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 53.9%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (7 600 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 1 900 000.

There were 3 935 600 Instagram users in China in July 2022, which accounted for 0.3% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 54.6%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (1 682 700). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 25 to 34, where men lead by 805 400.