Social Media Users Worldwide

The growing number of Internet users worldwide According to data from the report Digital 2025, developed by We Are Social and Hootsuite, internet users worldwide have surpassed 5 billion people, representing over 68% of the current global population.

Social Media Platforms have gained ground in the digital world, creating new spaces for communication.

Over the last several years, the number of users who joined social media platforms has been around 14 new users per second — that’s 424 million each year. 

The global growth of social media has been largely driven by the increasing prevalence and accessibility of mobile devices. This has revolutionized Internet accessibility, with global connectivity available to anyone with a mobile device. This ensured that time spent online has increased exponentially with more time now spent on mobile devices than watching TV. 

Social Media Usage Time

“How much time do people spend on social media?” has become an important question when it comes to business and brand revenues as well. 

People spend approximately 15% of their lives on social media. Worldwide, social media users aged 16-64 report spending two and a half hours on social media every day (Hootsuite and We Are Social Report). This means that, all together, the world spends 10 billion hours using social media platforms each day — the equivalent of almost 1.2 million years of human existence. 

In 2024, social media penetration has surpassed one half of the population, with a total of 63.8%, or 5.22 billion people. 

Social media offers an ever-broadening variety of things to do and also has a powerful influence over our daily activities. It can affect what we buy, what we like, and which places we choose to visit. 

Companies have also been incorporating social media as a business channel, but this system has proven to be more and more difficult to manage, resulting in the need for new specialists, such as community managers and social media managers. 

Usage Rate by Platform

It is estimated that the average internet user uses approximately 7.2 social media platforms each month. 

Changes in the number of social media users over time:

In October 2019, 3.9 billion people worldwide were considered social media users. In October 2021, that number had risen by almost 1 billion, reaching 4.65 billion of the world’s inhabitants. 

Reasons for using social media: 

Approximately 48% of internet users aged 16-64 state that staying in touch with friends and family is their main reason for using social media. On the other hand, about 37% of users say they use social media to fill their free time. The remaining percentage of users claim a variety of reasons, from consuming funny and entertaining content, making new contacts, following sports, and for work, among others.