Instagram is one of the largest social media apps in the world, boasting more than 1.2 billion users. It’s a hub not only for photos and videos but also for discovering what’s going on in the world today. Instagram remains highly popular across almost all age groups, which is something few other social media networks can claim.

In this guide, we’ll cover more than 70+ Instagram statistics to paint a complete picture of this massive social media network. Keep reading to find out who uses Instagram, how much content is on the platform, and more.

Instagram – Key Stats

  • Instagram is the 4th most popular social network, with more than 1.44 billion users around the world.
  • Instagram is growing by 5.47% per year and is most popular among 18-34 year-olds.
  • India is the biggest market for Instagram, with over 230 million users – TikTok is banned in the country. 
  • 20% of time spent on Instagram is watching Reels.
  • Instagram generates $49.91 billion in annual revenue for its parent company, Facebook – now Meta.

Instagram Usage Stats

  • Instagram has 1.35 billion users worldwide. That’s according to Facebook, Instagram’s parent company. Unconfirmed analysis looking at web traffic indicates there could be as many as 2.35 billion monthly users on Instagram. The network has more than 500 million active users each day.

Number of Instagram Users

  • Instagram is the world’s 4th most popular social network. It’s only beaten out by Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp.
  • Instagram’s user base is growing by 5.47% per year. That’s actually less than in the past. It grew by 16.35% in 2021.
Year Active users
2021 1.44 billion
2020 1.40 billion
2019 1.28 billion
2018 1.21 billion
2017 1.04 billion
2016 830 million
2015 610 million
2014 490 million
2013 357 million
2012 218 million
2011 118 million

Average Time Spent on Instagram

  • Only 0.2% of Instagram users are only on Instagram. 82% of Instagram users are also on Facebook while 52% are also on TikTok.
  • An estimated 127 million Americans have an Instagram account. Of those, 29% say that they get their news from the platform.
  • US adults spend 17% of their social media time on Instagram. That’s up from 16.6% in 2019 and is expected to keep growing. In 2023, US adults spend 16.7% of their social media time on TikTok.
  • The most popular photo on Instagram has 61.2 million likes. It’s by Lionel Messi showing Argentina’s national soccer team winning the world cup in 2022.

Instagram User Demographics

  • India has the most Instagram users. The world’s most populous country has 230.2 million Instagram users. However, that’s only 16.4% of the population of India. The US has 143.3 million (47% of the population), while Brazil is in third with 113.5 million users (67% of the population). Indonesia is in fourth with 89.2 million (46% of the population).
  • 61.6% of Instagram users are 18-35 years old. People over 55 make up only 5.7% of Instagram’s user base.

Instagram Audience by Age

  • Men and women use Instagram in nearly equal proportions. The app’s user base is 50.7% male and 49.3% female. In contrast, Facebook and YouTube are skewed towards male users.
  • In the US, Instagram users skew towards educated and wealthy. 43% of US Instagram users have a college degree. 60% of adults who make more than $100,000 per year use Instagram – the highest percentage of any income bracket.
  • Instagram is the most popular social media app for Gen Z, outside of China. It’s the favorite social media app in India, Portugal, and Turkey.
  • The main reasons people use Instagram is to share photos and videos, to find information about brands, and to be entertained. The overall vibe of the platform is “trendy/cool”.
  • 23% of women aged 16-24 say Instagram is their favorite social network, the most popular in the age group. 18% of 25-34 say the same.
  • Men ages 16-24 also prefer Insta for their social media, with 23.7% saying it’s their favorite. No other male age group puts Instagram first – WhatsApp wins every other bracket.
  • Users in Turkey spend the longest on the IG app, at over 21 hours per month. South Korea has some of the lowest usage rates, with just 6.1 hours per month spent in the app.
  • 60% of American women get their news from Instagram, compared to 47% of men. Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are roughly 10 percentage points less likely to get news from Instagram than white Americans.
  1. @leomessi – 62.1 million likes (2022). Lionel Messi posted a photo with Argentina’s national soccer team after winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
  2. @world_record_egg – 55.9 million likes (2019). This account posted a photo of an egg with the goal of generating the most-liked post on Instagram. It held that title from 2019-2022.
  3. @cristiano – 32.8 million likes (2021). Cristiano Ronaldo and his wife posted an announcement that they would be having twins.
  4. @xxxtentacion – 29.3 million likes (2018). Rapper XXXTentacion’s final image posted before his death.
  5. @arianagrande – 26.6 million likes (2021). Photos of Ariana Grande’s wedding with Dalton Gomez.
  6. @kyliejenner – 25.0 million likes (2021). Kylie Jenner announced she was pregnant with her second child.
  7. @tomholland2013 – 23.6 million likes (2022). Tom Holland recreated a meme of three Spider Mans pointing at each other.
  8. @kyliejenner – 23.0 million likes (2022). Kylie Jenner posted a photo of her newborn son along with his sister.
  9. @billieeilish – 22.9 million likes (2021). Billie Eilish revealed her blonde hair.
  10. @leomessi – 22.0 million likes (2021). Lionel Messi’s first post after signing with Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi IG most liked photo

Instagram Stories Stats

  • 2019 was the last time Instagram released data about Stories users – at which point 500 million people were engaging each day. That’s nearly one-third of all monthly active Instagram users.
  • A small study by Agorapule showed that over 90% of IG users engage with Instagram Stories. 
  • Businesses posting stories see a higher retention rate for followers. Up to five Stories per day gives a retention rate for businesses of over 70%.
  • Users are slightly more likely to tap forward on an image rather than a video. 50.98% of users will tap forward on an IG story.
  • Image Stories get more reach than video stories. The difference is biggest for accounts 5-10,000 followers, according to original research by Social Insider.

Instagram Reels Stats

  • Across both Facebook and Instagram, 140 million Reels are watched each day.
  • Since 2020, there has been a 20% increase in users engaging with Reels on Instagram. 96% of Gen Z have watched a short video on social media during 2022.
  • Reels are more popular than Tiktok in India. Instagram Reels has a 54% share of Google searches compared to 46% for Tiktok. It’s also notable that India has banned Tiktok.

india reels vs tiktok search trends

Instagram Ad Statistics

  • The average post engagement rate is 1.94%. The rate is higher for videos, and especially for Reels.
  • For businesses, the average engagement rate is 0.54%. Smaller businesses with less than 10,000 followers have an average engagement rate of 0.76%.

Instagram Business Engagement

  • 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business. Brands on Instagram grow their followings by 0.98% monthly on average.
  • 35% of Instagram users have made a purchase on the platform. In the US, 47.5 million people have made a purchase through Instagram.
  • Instagram ads are getting more expensive. Marketer’s cost per 1,000 impressions increased 17% in 2022.
  • Meta doesn’t break down advertising income per platform. However, in it’s Q1 2023 financial report, the business made $28 billion revenue from advertising across all sources, including Instagram.

Instagram Revenue Statistics

Year Revenue
2022 $49.91 billion
2021 $28.08 billion
2020 $19.40 billion
2019 $10.30 billion
2018 $4.13 billion
2017 $1.81 billion
  • The majority of Instagram’s revenue comes from the US. The company earned $33.25 billion in ad revenue in the US market in 2022, or more than 66% of its total revenue.
  • Instagram Stories generated $15.95 billion in revenue in 2022. That’s more than 30% of Instagram’s total revenue.
  • Instagram was valued at $100 billion in 2018. Today, Meta has a market cap of $546 billion including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
  • Parent company Meta’s Q1 2023 revenue was $28.645 billion, 3% up year-on-year. The overall business operates on a 25% margin and had a net quarterly income of $5.7 billion.

Instagram vs Competitors

Social media platform Instagram Facebook Twitter Tiktok Snapchat
Number of users 1.44 billion 2.96 billion 368 million 1.2 billion 750 million
Annual revenue $49.91 billion $116.8 billion $5.2 billion $9.4 billion $4.6 billion
Annual growth rate 5.5% 1.75% -4% 15% 18%
Percent of Americans on the platform 47% 71% 23% 41% 40%
  • When “looking for something funny”, Instagram is the second go-to platform. TikTok beats it by 18 percentage points.
  • For sharing content with others, Instagram is the number one app put of all social media. Facebook comes second and Snapchat is third.

Instagram History

  • Instagram launched in 2010. The app was created by Kevin Systrom, a former Google employee. It was originally called Burbn and enabled users to check in, post plans, and share photos.
  • Instagram received seed funding from Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. The startup received $500,000, enabling Systrom to work on Instagram full-time and hire his first software engineers.
  • The Instagram app launched on October 6, 2010. It acquired 25,000 users on the first day and 1 million users within 3 months.
  • Instagram raised $7 million in Series A funding. The startup was valued at $25 million. Twitter made an offer to acquire Instagram for $500 million in stock, but Systrom declined the offer.
  • Instagram’s Android app launched in April 2012. It was immediately downloaded by more than 1 million Android users. Instagram now had more than 25 million users.
  • Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012. The acquisition cost $1 billion in cash and stock and was one of the largest tech acquisitions in history.
  • Instagram added videos in 2013. Users could share and edit videos up to 15 seconds in length. Video ads also began appearing at the same time.
  • Instagram launched Stories in 2016. This feature was designed to help Instagram compete with the growing popularity of Snapchat.
  • Kevin Systrom left Instagram in 2018. Systrom left along with Mike Krieger, an engineer who was one of Instagram’s first hires in 2010.
  • Instagram launched Reels in 2020. This new video feature was designed to help Instagram compete with Tiktok.

Fun Facts about Instagram

  • Instagram’s name has changed several times. It was initially called Burbn, then the name was changed to Codename. Finally, it was switched to Instagram – a mash-up of ‘instant camera’ and ‘telegram’ – before launch.
  • Mark Zuckerberg was widely criticized for buying Instagram. At the time, Zuckerberg and Facebook paid $1 billion for a startup that had only 13 employees and 30 million users. Today, Instagram is thought to be worth more than $100 billion and Zuckerberg’s acquisition is widely considered to be one of the smartest moves ever made in the tech industry.
  • The first Instagram post came from Mike Krieger. Krieger was Instagram’s co-founder along with Kevin Systrom. He posted a photo of South Beach Harbor in July 2010.

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