In January 2025, there were almost 34.71 million Instagram users in the United Kingdom (UK). The number of users on Instagram in the UK rose quickly between January and February 2023 and has remained relatively stable since then. Influencers in the UK As of 2020, the most followed Instagram influencer in the UK was David Beckham. The former England international footballer and current president of Inter Miami FC had over 65 million followers. DuaLipa was the top female influencer on Instagram in the UK.   Instagram demographics As of September 2024, Instagram's largest demographic in the UK is women between the ages of 25 and 34 years, which accounts for 15.6 percent of the social platform's users in the country. In contrast, men and women belonging to the 65 years or older age group account for less than five percent of the network's users in the UK. Instagram is most popular with the younger generation, much like another social media app which has recently been making waves; TikTok.  

Instagram’s appeal in the United Kingdom is the strongest among women between 25 and 34 years, with 15.6 percent of the popular photo and video platform's demographic being women in this age group as of January 2025. Overall, 55 percent of Instagram's audience in the UK were women, while men engaging with Instagram were 45 percent of the total. Instagram in the United Kingdom In November 2024, Instagram counted over 34.7 million users in the United Kingdom. This represents an increase of 1.2 million from the corresponding month in 2023, when Instagram users in the country were approximately 33.5 million. Audiences of millions The leading British influencers have fan bases with millions of followers, a dream scenario for advertisers looking to direct brand messages quickly to massive audiences for less than advertising in traditional media. As of 2020, David Beckham was the United Kingdom’s most popular celebrity influencer with over 65 million followers, followed by singer Dua Lipa with a following of 58 million.

The most popular category among UK Instagram influencers in 2020 was lifestyle, with 8.22 percent of influencers producing content related to it. Beauty followed with a share of 6.42 percent, and music rounded out the top three with 5.86 percent.

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.

56.8% of the world’s total population is active on social media.

The results might surprise you when looking at internet users that are active on social media in each country.

Computers and gadgets was the most trending Instagram topic in the UK in 2020, with over 100 percent growth of followers. Other 2020 trends included shows, family-themed content, and business and careers.

Gen Z and Millennials are the biggest social media users of all age groups.

Users aged 25 to 34 years old made up the largest audience of Facebook in the United Kingdom in January 2025, accounting for 24.7 percent of all users. Overall, Facebook users aged 35 to 44 were the platform's second-largest demographic in the UK, followed by those aged 18 to 24. Dip in overall user numbers As of November 2024, there were over 55.9 million Facebook users in the UK, up from 39.01 million in September 2018, according to napoleoncat.com. However, since a peak of 57.1 million users in May 2022, Facebook's audience has decreased slightly. Facebook’s user number issues have not just been limited to the United Kingdom, with figures released by the company highlighting issues in several key markets. There was a small growth in Europe from the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020. The company counted 305 million daily active users (DAU) in Europe during the first quarter of 2020. Facebook United Kingdom key source of European revenue Facebook UK Limited generated approximately 211 million British pounds in revenue during 2015, a figure that skyrocketed  to 842 million British pounds in 2016. According to Facebook UK, this was the results of the company commencing advertiser reseller services in April 2016. In 2019, Facebook UK Limited revenue reached roughly one billion British pounds. In the third quarter of 2024, the company’s total European revenue reached over 9.49 billion U.S. dollars 

The results of which gender uses which platforms are in.

According to a survey conducted by Ofcom in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020, 16 to 24-year-olds made up the largest group of respondents who had used social media sites or apps in the previous week. This was followed by 25 to 34-year-olds, comprising the second largest group. Overall, social media use was the highest among young adults, decreasing steadily within the older age groups.

Women and social media

In the United Kingdom, more women than men had set up their own social network profile according to an ongoing survey conducted from 2010 to 2019. By 2019, 86 percent of women and 78 percent of men had created social media profiles, a rise from 2010 where only 56 and 51 percent respectively claimed to have done the same. Despite social media having a comparatively larger female user base as demonstrated by the previous figures, the share of advertising audience in early 2020 was nearly evenly distributed between males and females, particularly in the largest audience group of 18 to 44-year-olds.

The growth of influencer marketing

Social media advertising spend has been on the rise in the UK, reaching over three billion British pounds by 2018. This was a near 30 percent increase from the previous year. The sector also experienced a 40 percent increase in spend per year between 2015 and 2017, further demonstrating the growth of this marketing niche. With the rise of YouTube and Instagram, influencer marketing has come to play a crucial role in social media advertising with 68 percent of PR professionals having allocated between 10 thousand and over 100 thousand British pounds for the sector in 2018. In collaborating with influencers who have an established follower-base, marketers are able to quickly build trust, increase reach, and engage audiences effectively.

Regional use of social media has a significant effect on the male and female social media statistics.

Facebook and YouTube are still the most used social media platforms today.

The average person has 8-9 social media accounts. This has doubled since 2013, when the average person just had 4-5 accounts.

Over 210 million people worldwide suffer from social media addiction.

During the survey period, it was found that 54 percent of the respondents in the United Kingdom (UK) used Instagram several times a day in the first quarter of 2020. A share of 12 percent of respondents reported using Instagram a few times a week.

The number of social media users in the United Kingdom was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 4.7 million users (+8.92 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the social media user base is estimated to reach 57.35 million users and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the number of social media users of was continuously increasing over the past years.The shown figures regarding social media users have been derived from survey data that has been processed to estimate missing demographics.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

As of April 2024, around 16.5 percent of global active Instagram users were men between the ages of 18 and 24 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 2020, the photo-sharing app ranked third in terms of preferred social network among teenagers in the United States, second to Snapchat and TikTok. Instagram was one of the most influential advertising channels among female Gen Z users when making purchasing decisions. Teens report feeling more confident, popular, and better about themselves when using social media, and less lonely, depressed and anxious. Social media can have negative effects on teens, which is also much more pronounced on those with low emotional well-being. It was found that 35 percent of teenagers with low social-emotional well-being reported to have experienced cyber bullying when using social media, while in comparison only five 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.

In 2022, YouTube was the most used social platform among children and teenagers in the United Kingdom, with 88 percent of respondents stating that they had used the service. WhatsApp ranked second, with 55 percent of kids and teens in the UK being active on the platform. Additionally, usage of TikTok and Snapchat increased from 2021 to 2021 among those aged three to 17 in the UK.

Youth accounts on the rise again From 80 percent in 2012, the share of children aged 12 to 15 years of age with a social media account fell to 70 percent in 2018, but increased again in 2020, peaking at 87 percent. Despite some major social networks setting minimum age limits in their terms of service, 30 percent of children aged 5 to 7 years had a social media account in 2020, according to Ofcom.

Facebook falling out of favor with teens Among teens and young adults in the United States, Youtuba and Instagram had a higher reach than any other social network, slightly ahead of Facebook and Snapchat. When you remove young adults from the picture, Snapchat is clearly the most important social network and Facebook barely comes into the equation. Since the Fall/Autumn period of 2017, less than ten percent of teens in the United States said Facebook was their most important social network, compared with more than 34 percent of teens who nominated Snapchat. The new hot trend among Gen Z is TikTok, selected by 29 percent of respondents and ranking second.

In 2022, daily time spent on TikTok in the United Kingdom (UK) reached approximately 50 minutes, up by over 110 percent compared to 2019. In comparison, Facebook usage between 2020 to 2022 went down to approximately 43 minutes on a daily basis. In the examined time, Instagram engagement remained at around 30 minutes per day among UK users in the examined period.