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.

How much time do people spend on social media? As of 2024, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 143 minutes per day, down from 151 minutes in the previous year. Currently, the country with the most time spent on social media per day is Brazil, with online users spending an average of three hours and 49 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in the U.S. was just two hours and 16 minutes. Global social media usageCurrently, the global social network penetration rate is 62.3 percent. Northern Europe had an 81.7 percent social media penetration rate, topping the ranking of global social media usage by region. Eastern and Middle Africa closed the ranking with 10.1 and 9.6 percent usage reach, respectively. People access social media for a variety of reasons. Users like to find funny or entertaining content and enjoy sharing photos and videos with friends, but mainly use social media to stay in touch with current events friends. Global impact of social mediaSocial media has a wide-reaching and significant impact on not only online activities but also offline behavior and life in general. During a global online user survey in February 2019, a significant share of respondents stated that social media had increased their access to information, ease of communication, and freedom of expression. On the flip side, respondents also felt that social media had worsened their personal privacy, increased a polarization in politics and heightened everyday distractions.

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

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

A global survey conducted in the third quarter of 2024 found that the main reason for using social media was to keep in touch with friends and family, with over 50.8 percent of social media users saying this was their main reason for using online networks. Overall, 39 percent of social media users said that filling spare time was their main reason for using social media platforms, whilst 34.5 percent of respondents said they used it to read news stories. Less than one in five users were on social platforms for the reason of following celebrities and influencers. The most popular social network Facebook dominates the social media landscape. The world's most popular social media platform turned 20 in February 2024, and it continues to lead the way in terms of user numbers. As of February 2025, the social network had over three billion global users. YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp follow, but none of these well-known brands can surpass Facebook’s audience size. Moreover, as of the final quarter of 2023, there were almost four billion Meta product users. Ever-evolving social media usage The utilization of social media remains largely gratuitous; however, companies have been encouraging users to become paid subscribers to reduce dependence on advertising profits. Meta Verified entices users by offering a blue verification badge and proactive account protection, among other things. X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, and Reddit also offer users the chance to upgrade their social media accounts for a monthly free.

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.

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

As of the third quarter of 2024, the most popular reason for using social media according to users in the United States was to keep in touch with family and friends, with almost 59 percent of respondents choosing this as their leading reason. Overall, 38.9 percent of internet users in the U.S. said that they used social media to fill their spare time, and 29.4 percent said they used it to find content. Live streams, following sports, and making new contacts were other popular reasons for using social networks.

Introduction

Social Media Marketing Statistics: Social media marketing is a key part of any digital marketing plan today. With over 50% of the world’s population using social media, brands need to be active on these platforms. But it’s not just about making profiles and posting content. Effective social media marketing involves keeping up with changing algorithms and trends and understanding the behaviors of your target audience. Social media’s interactive and engaging nature helps businesses connect with their audience in ways they couldn’t before.

This opens up new opportunities for engaging with people, building the brand, and doing direct marketing. We shall shed more light on Social Media Marketing Statistics through this article.

In this post, I'll give you all the social media addiction statistics you need to be aware of to moderate your social media use.

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

How many people use social media? Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over five billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over six billion in 2028.

Who uses social media? Social networking is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide and it is no surprise that social networking penetration across all regions is constantly increasing. As of January 2023, the global social media usage rate stood at 59 percent. This figure is anticipated to grow as lesser developed digital markets catch up with other regions when it comes to infrastructure development and the availability of cheap mobile devices. In fact, most of social media’s global growth is driven by the increasing usage of mobile devices. Mobile-first market Eastern Asia topped the global ranking of mobile social networking penetration, followed by established digital powerhouses such as the Americas and Northern Europe.

How much time do people spend on social media? Social media is an integral part of daily internet usage. On average, internet users spend 151 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of 40 minutes since 2015. On average, internet users in Latin America had the highest average time spent per day on social media.

What are the most popular social media platforms? Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. In June 2023, the top social media apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.

The number of social media users in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 26 million users (+8.55 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the social media user base is estimated to reach 330.07 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).

Impact of Social Media on Suicide Rates: Produced Results

Overview

This dataset explores the impact of social media usage on suicide rates, presenting an analysis based on social media platform data and WHO suicide rate statistics. It is an insightful resource for researchers, data scientists, and analysts looking to understand the correlation between increased social media activity and suicide rates across different regions and demographics.

Content

The dataset includes the following key sources:

WHO Suicide Rate Data (SDGSUICIDE): Retrieved from WHO data export, which tracks global suicide rates. Social Media Usage Data: Information from major social media platforms, sourced from Kaggle, supplemented with data from:

Facebook: Statista

Twitter: Twitter Investor Relations

Instagram: Facebook Investor Relations

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge:

World Health Organization (WHO): For providing global suicide rate data, accessible under their data policy (WHO Data Policy). Kaggle Dataset Contributors: For social media usage data that played a crucial role in the analysis.

Usage

This dataset is useful for studying the potential social factors contributing to suicide rates, especially the role of social media. Analysts can explore correlations using time-series analysis, regression models, or other statistical tools to derive meaningful insights. Please ensure compliance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Data Files

Impact-of-social-media-on-suicide-rates-results-1.1.0.zip (90.9 kB) Contains processed results and supplementary data.

Citations

If you use this dataset in your work, please cite:

Martin Winkler. (2021). Impact of social media on suicide rates: produced results (1.1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4701587 https://zenodo.org/records/4701587

License

This dataset is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. You are free to share and adapt the material, provided proper attribution is given, it's not used for commercial purposes, and any derivatives are distributed under the same license.

Columns

Year: The year of the recorded data. Sex: Demographic indicator (e.g., male, female). Suicide Rate % Change Since 2010: Percentage change in suicide rates compared to the year 2010. Twitter User Count % Change Since 2010: Percentage change in Twitter user counts compared to the year 2010. Facebook User Count % Change Since 2010: Percentage change in Facebook user counts compared to the year 2010.

Data Bins

The dataset includes categorized data ranges, allowing for analysis of trends within specified intervals. For example, ranges for suicide rates, Twitter user counts, and Facebook user counts are represented in bins for better granularity.

Count Summary

The dataset summarizes counts for various intervals, enabling researchers to identify trends and patterns over time, highlighting periods of significant change or stability in both suicide rates and social media usage.

Use Cases

This dataset can be used for:

Statistical analysis to understand correlations between social media usage and mental health outcomes. Academic research focused on public health, psychology, or sociology. Policy-making discussions aimed at addressing mental health concerns linked to social media.

Cautions

The dataset contains sensitive information regarding suicide rates. Users should handle this data with care and sensitivity, considering ethical implications when presenting findings.

Discover the latest social media statistics and trends for 2025 and how they impact businesses.

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

In 2023, 37 percent of respondents said they used Instagram to view official university accounts while researching colleges. 24 percent also said they used Instagram to search for students at a university during their college search.

Which countries spent the most and least time on social media?

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.

In 2024, approximately 81 percent internet users from Brazil used social media, up from 72 percent in 2022. Meanwhile, WhatsApp was the most popular social network in Brazil, alongside Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.