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.

As of the third quarter of 2020, it was found that 63 percent of Instagram users in the United States accessed the photo sharing app on a daily basis. Overall, 97 percent of responding Instagram users claimed that they used Instagram on a monthly basis.

There were 94 640 000 Instagram users in Brazil in September 2020, which accounted for 42.6% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 58.1%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (29 000 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 7 200 000.

There were 78 670 000 Instagram users in Indonesia in September 2020, which accounted for 27.6% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 51.1%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (29 000 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 13 to 17, where women lead by 4 100 000.

The majority of German Instagram users (** percent) used the app at least once a month, according to a 2020 survey. Almost ** percent claimed they logged on weekly, while ** percent did so every day.

Cristiano Ronaldo has one of the most popular Instagram accounts as of April 2024.

              The Portuguese footballer is the most-followed person on the photo sharing app platform with 628 million followers. Instagram's own account was ranked first with roughly 672 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 one billion monthly active users in mid-2018. In 2020, there were over 114 million Instagram users in the United States and experts project this figure to surpass 127 million users in 2023.

              Who uses Instagram?

              Instagram audiences are predominantly young – recent data states that almost 60 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 985,441 U.S. dollars.

There were 135 800 000 Instagram users in United States of America in November 2020, which accounted for 39.4% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 57.3%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (45 000 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 10 000 000.

There were 2 260 000 Instagram users in Hong Kong in February 2020, which accounted for 29.5% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 56.4%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (920 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 25 to 34, where women lead by 390 000.

There were 6 678 000 Instagram users in Pakistan in February 2020, which accounted for 2.9% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 65.8%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (3 090 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where men lead by 2 100 000.

As of 2020, 67 percent of Norwegians reported to be using Instagram daily. 92 percent used it weekly, whereas 98 percent used the platform monthly.

There were 1 210 100 Instagram users in Georgia in December 2020, which accounted for 31.1% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 57.6%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (400 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 74 000.

There were 32 230 000 Instagram users in Mexico in December 2020, which accounted for 22.7% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 54.5%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (11 400 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where women lead by 5 100 000.

As of April 2024, almost 32 percent of global Instagram audiences were aged between 18 and 24 years, and 30.6 percent of users were aged between 25 and 34 years. Overall, 16 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 362.9 million and 169.7 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 second quarter of 2021, Snapchat had 293 million daily active users.

As of the third quarter of 2020, 63 percent of U.S. internet users aged 15 to 25 years used the photo sharing platform Instagram. Only 32 percent of internet users aged 56 years and older reported the same.

There were 15 700 000 Instagram users in Thailand in November 2020, which accounted for 22.3% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 62.5%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (5 400 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 25 to 34, where women lead by 2 000 000.

As of 2020, 77 percent of Finns used Instagram daily. 96 percent of respondents used the platform on a weekly basis and 99 percent used it monthly.

There were 42 202 Instagram users in Chad in November 2020, which accounted for 0.2% of its entire population. The majority of them were men - 66.3%. People aged 18 to 24 were the largest user group (20 500). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 18 to 24, where men lead by 16 000.

As of February 2025, India had a total of 413.85 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. The United States had 171.7 million users, and Brazil had 140.7 million. Indonesia, Turkey, and Japan ranked in fourth, fifth and sixth position, respectively. Kazakhstan is the leading country for Instagram audience reach, with 86.2 percent of the population using the social media service. Turkey came in second, with a penetration rate of 85.5 percent and Uruguay ranked third, with 87.1 percent, followed closely by the UAE, Brazil, and Bahrain. 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 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.

According to a survey conducted across the Middle East and North Africa region, around ** percent of respondents in 2022 used Instagram on a daily basis. This indicated a decline from ** percent reported in 2020.

There were 451 300 Instagram users in Estonia in December 2020, which accounted for 35.9% of its entire population. The majority of them were women - 60.9%. People aged 25 to 34 were the largest user group (148 000). The highest difference between men and women occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 31 000.