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.

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.

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.

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.

Description:

The "Daily Social Media Active Users" dataset provides a comprehensive and dynamic look into the digital presence and activity of global users across major social media platforms. The data was generated to simulate real-world usage patterns for 13 popular platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, WeChat, TikTok, Telegram, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, Reddit, Threads, LinkedIn, and Quora. This dataset contains 10,000 rows and includes several key fields that offer insights into user demographics, engagement, and usage habits.

Dataset Breakdown:

• Platform: The name of the social media platform where the user activity is tracked. It includes globally recognized platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, that are known for their large, active user bases.

• Owner: The company or entity that owns and operates the platform. Examples include Meta for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Google for YouTube, and ByteDance for TikTok.

• Primary Usage: This category identifies the primary function of each platform. Social media platforms differ in their primary usage, whether it's for social networking, messaging, multimedia sharing, professional networking, or more.

• Country: The geographical region where the user is located. The dataset simulates global coverage, showcasing users from diverse locations and regions. It helps in understanding how user behavior varies across different countries.

• Daily Time Spent (min): This field tracks how much time a user spends on a given platform on a daily basis, expressed in minutes. Time spent data is critical for understanding user engagement levels and the popularity of specific platforms.

• Verified Account: Indicates whether the user has a verified account. This feature mimics real-world patterns where verified users (often public figures, businesses, or influencers) have enhanced status on social media platforms.

• Date Joined: The date when the user registered or started using the platform. This data simulates user account history and can provide insights into user retention trends or platform growth over time.

Context and Use Cases:

• This synthetic dataset is designed to offer a privacy-friendly alternative for analytics, research, and machine learning purposes. Given the complexities and privacy concerns around using real user data, especially in the context of social media, this dataset offers a clean and secure way to develop, test, and fine-tune applications, models, and algorithms without the risks of handling sensitive or personal information.

Researchers, data scientists, and developers can use this dataset to:

• Model User Behavior: By analyzing patterns in daily time spent, verified status, and country of origin, users can model and predict social media engagement behavior.

• Test Analytics Tools: Social media monitoring and analytics platforms can use this dataset to simulate user activity and optimize their tools for engagement tracking, reporting, and visualization.

• Train Machine Learning Algorithms: The dataset can be used to train models for various tasks like user segmentation, recommendation systems, or churn prediction based on engagement metrics.

• Create Dashboards: This dataset can serve as the foundation for creating user-friendly dashboards that visualize user trends, platform comparisons, and engagement patterns across the globe.

• Conduct Market Research: Business intelligence teams can use the data to understand how various demographics use social media, offering valuable insights into the most engaged regions, platform preferences, and usage behaviors.

• Sources of Inspiration: This dataset is inspired by public data from industry reports, such as those from Statista, DataReportal, and other market research platforms. These sources provide insights into the global user base and usage statistics of popular social media platforms. The synthetic nature of this dataset allows for the use of realistic engagement metrics without violating any privacy concerns, making it an ideal tool for educational, analytical, and research purposes.

The structure and design of the dataset are based on real-world usage patterns and aim to represent a variety of users from different backgrounds, countries, and activity levels. This diversity makes it an ideal candidate for testing data-driven solutions and exploring social media trends.

Future Considerations:

As the social media landscape continues to evolve, this dataset can be updated or extended to include new platforms, engagement metrics, or user behaviors. Future iterations may incorporate features like post frequency, follower counts, engagement rates (likes, comments, shares), or even sentiment analysis from user-generated content.

By leveraging this dataset, analysts and data scientists can create better, more effective strategies ...

How many active users are on Instagram? In 2023, the photo sharing site is projected to reach ***** million monthly active users in the United States, up from ***** million users in 2020. Social network reach The internet has brought about many changes in how people around the world communicate, especially through one of its most powerful inventions: social media. According to a recent study, internet users worldwide spend an average of over *********** per day on one of the many social media platforms. Such websites and apps are increasingly used not just for social sharing, but also as means to building reputation, finding career opportunities or monetary income. As of January 2021, an estimated ** percent of the world’s population was using social networking, with West and Northern Europe having the highest penetration rate – ** percent of the respective region's populations. Eastern Asia placed first in a global ranking of mobile social media penetration according to geographical region. Industry leaders Facebook is by far the most popular social network with over *** billion global monthly active users but Instagram, the mobile photo and video-sharing application launched in 2010, is quickly growing in popularity. Instagram was bought by Facebook back in 2012. As of June 2018, there are an estimated *********** Instagram monthly active users worldwide. There are an estimated *********** Instagram users in the United States alone, a number which is forecast to grow to over *** million in 2023. According to the company, the secret to their success is their unique visual storytelling approach to social media. Users registered with the platform can upload pictures and videos, to which they can also apply filters, frames and other effects. They can also attach captions, tags of other people/accounts, whether friends, celebrities or companies and hashtags, which make the media easy to find if one is looking for specific subjects. There are a reported ** million photos uploaded to Instagram every day.

As of October 2025, 29.7 percent of Instagram users in the United States were aged between 25 and 34 years, making up the platform’s largest audience in the country. Overall, the group with the second-highest usage was those aged 18 to 24 years, with 21.6 percent of users, followed by 19.7 percent that were aged 35 to 44 years. The age group that used Instagram the least was those older than 65 years, making up 7.3 percent of users, respectively. Popular social media platforms in the United States Instagram was the fourth most visited social media platform in the United States as of March 2025 across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices combined, accounting for ten percent of all social media visits in the country. Despite Instagram’s popularity, Facebook remained the leading social media platform by far in the U.S., accounting for more than 56 percent of all social media visits. Pinterest and X (formerly Twitter) ranked second and third in terms of visits, with 16.73 percent and 11.73 percent of visits, respectively. Instagram’s global audience Instagram’s global popularity continues to surge, with no signs of slowing down. As of January 2025, the country with the largest Instagram audience was India, with over 480 million users, while the United States had the second-highest market with over 180 million users, followed by Brazil, Indonesia, and Turkey, respectively. As of February 2025, Instagram was the third most popular social network globally, reaching three billion monthly active users.

As of November 2025, the United Kingdom had ***** million Instagram users. This figure marks a *** percent increase compared with the same month in the previous year. 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 ** million followers. DuaLipa was the top female influencer on Instagram in the UK.   Instagram demographics As of May 2025, Instagram's largest demographic in the UK is women between the ages of 25 and 34 years, which accounts for **** 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 **** 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.  

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

Users spend an average of 19.6 hours per month on TikTok alone. This works out to be approximately 39 minutes per day.

Snapchat now boasts over 319 million daily active users. That means it’s one of the most engaging platforms. Snapchat currently has a total user base of 800 million.

YouTube gets an average of 14.3 billion total worldwide visits every month.

Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently sits at more than three billion monthly active users. Meta Platforms owns four of the biggest social media platforms, all with more than one billion monthly active users each: Facebook (core platform), WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. In the third quarter of 2023, Facebook reported around four billion monthly core Family product users. The United States and China account for the most high-profile social platforms Most top-ranked social networks with more than 100 million users originated in the United States, but services like Chinese social networks WeChat, QQ, or video-sharing app Douyin have also garnered mainstream appeal in their respective regions due to local context and content. Douyin’s popularity has led to the platform releasing an international version of its network, TikTok. How many people use social media? The leading social networks are usually available in multiple languages and enable users to connect with friends or people across geographical, political, or economic borders. In 2025, social networking sites are estimated to reach 5.44 billion users, and these figures are still expected to grow as mobile device usage and mobile social networks increasingly gain traction in previously underserved markets.

Context

Worldwide Social Media User in 2021 (Quarterly)

Acknowledgements

Facebook: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ Twitter: https://investor.twitterinc.com/home/default.aspx Instagram: https://investor.fb.com/home/default.aspx

Introduction

Facebook Users Statistics: Despite the rise of many applications, Facebook still retains its status as the most widely used social media platform. The scale and variety of its user base in 2025 may surprise you, especially when compared with its competitors. As of April 2024, Facebook reported over three billion monthly active users (MAU). India has the largest Facebook audience in the world, with 378 million users documented in early 2024.

Furthermore, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil each had more than 100 million Facebook users. Additionally, nearly 20% of global Facebook users were men who were between 25 and 34 years old, while around 13% of users were women within the same age range. Facebook has firmly established itself as the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts globally.

As the flagship platform of Meta Platforms, which also includes Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, Facebook continues to be the most widely used social media platform.

Cristiano Ronaldo has *** of the most popular Instagram accounts as of June 2025. The Portuguese footballer is the most-followed person on the photo sharing app platform with *** million followers. Instagram's own account was ranked first with roughly *** million followers. How popular is Instagram? Instagram is a photo-sharing social networking service that enables users to take pictures and edit them with filters. The platform allows users to post and share their images online and directly with their friends and followers on the social network. The cross-platform app reached *** billion monthly active users in mid-2018. In 2020, there were over *** million Instagram users in the United States and experts project this figure to surpass *** million users in 2023. Who uses Instagram? Instagram audiences are predominantly young – recent data states that almost ** percent of U.S. Instagram users are aged 34 years or younger. Fall 2020 data reveals that Instagram is also one of the most popular social media for teens and one of the social networks with the biggest reach among teens in the United States. Celebrity influencers on Instagram Many celebrities and athletes are brand spokespeople and generate additional income with social media advertising and sponsored content. Unsurprisingly, Ronaldo ranked first again, as the average media value of one of his Instagram posts was ******* U.S. dollars.

The US has historically been the target country for Twitter since its launch in 2006. This is the full breakdown of Twitter users by country.

Analyzing user behavior on Instagram📱🤳🙎‍♂️ can provide valuable insights into user engagement, preferences, and overall user experience. As a social media platform, Instagram offers various opportunities to study user behavior. Here are some aspects to consider when analyzing user behavior on Instagram:

User Engagement Metrics:

Likes: Analyze the number of likes on posts to understand which content resonates well with users. Comments: Study the comments on posts to gauge the level of interaction and engagement. Shares: Examine the number of times users share posts to understand content virality. Content Analysis:

Content Types: Identify the types of content (photos, videos, stories, etc.) that receive the highest engagement. Hashtags: Study the effectiveness of different hashtags in driving user interactions. Captions: Analyze the impact of captions on engagement and user response. User Demographics:

Age, Gender, and Location: Understand the demographics of the user base and how it affects behavior. Active Hours: Determine when users are most active to optimize content posting times. Follower Growth and Churn:

Follower Growth: Track the growth rate of followers over time. Follower Churn: Investigate the reasons for follower losses or unfollows. Influencers and Brand Advocacy:

Identify influential users who drive engagement and contribute to brand advocacy. Measure the impact of influencer collaborations on engagement and brand reach. Story Engagement:

Analyze user interactions with Instagram Stories, such as taps, swipes, and exits. Assess the performance of Stories compared to regular posts. Explore Page and Discoverability:

Study the factors that influence content appearing on users' Explore pages. Analyze the impact of Instagram's algorithms on content discoverability. User Journey Analysis:

Track user interactions from initial discovery to conversion (e.g., website visits or product purchases). Understand the user journey and potential drop-off points. User Sentiment Analysis:

Conduct sentiment analysis on comments and captions to gauge user feelings towards content or products. Ad Engagement:

Analyze user interactions with sponsored posts and advertisements. Measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns in driving engagement and conversions. User Activity Patterns:

Study the frequency and duration of user interactions on the platform. Identify peak activity times and user behavior during different days of the week. Privacy and Data Ethics:

Ensure compliance with user privacy regulations and data protection policies. Respect user data and privacy while conducting the analysis. Remember, Instagram's API access and data usage policies might limit the depth of analysis. As such, ensure compliance with Instagram's terms of service and privacy guidelines while performing user behavior analysis on the platform.

Instagram is a social media app owned by Meta which focuses on photo and video sharing. As of August 2025, there were over **** million Instagram users in the Netherlands, accounting for **** percent of the total population. Although Instagram has seen an overall decrease in users since the middle of 2023, it is still the second most used social media platform for ** to 22-year-olds in the Netherlands. Overall, **** percent of Instagram users in the Netherlands in August 2025 were women. The leading user base in terms of age and gender were women in the 25 to 34 year age group, who accounted for **** percent of all users. Social media in the Netherlands In 2024, there were ***** million social network users in the Netherlands, an increase of over *** million since 2021. By 2026, there will be an estimated ***** million users. The internet usage penetration rate was ***** percent in 2024 and is predicted to reach ***** percent by 2026. Popular social media platforms Market leader Facebook had a total of ***** million users in the Netherlands in January 2025, which accounted for **** percent of the population. As of August 2025, users aged between 25 and 34 years were the platform's largest audience and made up more than *********** of all Dutch Facebook users. Furthermore, **** percent of Facebook’s user base were between the ages of 18 and 24 years. In 2023, the Netherlands, saw a total of *** million users of online networking platform X, formerly known as Twitter, and **** million users of instant messaging service WhatsApp.

Over the five years through 2025-26, industry revenue is forecast to expand at a compound annual rate of 20.3% to reach £12.5 billion. Social media platforms are integral to people's lives, offering ways to communicate, create and view content and share information. According to Ofcom, approximately 89% of UK internet users in 2023 used social media apps or sites. Teenagers and young adults are the biggest users. Advertising is the primary revenue source for social media platforms, although subscription-based services are gaining momentum as platforms seek to diversify their incomes. TikTok is the success story of the past five years, becoming the most downloaded app between 2020 and 2022, according to Apptopia. The short-form video platform has over 30 million monthly users in the UK in 2025. After Musk's takeover, X, formerly known as Twitter, adjusted its content moderation and allowed previously banned accounts to return. As a result, over 600 advertisers pulled their ads from the site because of fears their brand may be associated with malcontent. In response to falling ad revenue, X has introduced a subscription-based service which enables users to verify themselves and boosts the number of people who view their tweets. Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram have responded by introducing a similar service. In 2025, more social media platforms are using AI to boost user engagement. This improves click-through rates and drives higher advertising revenue. Industry revenue is expected to grow by 6.3% in 2025-26. Over the five years through 2030-31, social media platforms' revenue is projected to climb at an estimated 9.2% to reach £19.4 billion. Regulations relating to how data is collected, stored, and shared will force advertisers and platforms to rethink how they can target their desired demographics. The tightening of regulations will raise industry compliance costs, weighing on profit margin. Older age groups present a new revenue opportunity for social media platforms if they can bridge the gap between passive TV consumption and interactive digital engagement. Augmented Reality (AR) technology will move beyond filters to become standard for immersive product trials, interactive ads, and virtual meetups