Curious about the current state of social media around the world? Well, I’ve brought you a comprehensive look at social media in April 2023, on a global scale.

This will be Part I of my comprehensive analysis of social media. Below, you’ll find all the highlights:

Below, I’ll go into more detail on various aspects of social media. But before that, here are the main sections I’ll be showing you:

Let’s get started, shall we?

Section I: Social Media Use Over Time

This section will look at the increase in quarterly global social media users between April 2021 to April 2023, so a 2-year period.

Here’s the chart:

Period	% Increase	Total Users
April 2021		4.328 billion
July 2021	+3.4% from the last period	4.475 billion
October 2021	+1.6% from the last period	4.546 billion
January 2022	+1.7% frm the last period	4.623 billion
April 2022	+0.7% from the last period	4.655 billion
July 2022	+1% from the last period	4.702 billion
October 2022	+0.7% from the last period	4.736 billion
January 2023	+0.5% from the last period	4.760 billion
April 2023	+0.9% from the last period	4.805 billion

It seems that, on average, there’s a 1-1.5% increase in social media users per quarter worldwide. In total, there were 4.805 billion social media users in the world in April 2023, a 0.9% increase from January 2023.

If anything, social media is becoming more and more popular over time but that’s not surprising. Let’s go through the next sections and see if anything new comes up!

Section II: Social Media Use Vs. Population per Region

Let’s look at the global social media usage per world region as of April 2023. This will show us the percentage of that region’s population that is using social media.

Here’s the data:

Location	Share of Population Using Social Media Users
Global Average	59.9%
Northern America	73.8%
Central America	67.7%
Southern America	67.3%
Caribbean	50.3%
Northern Europe	83.5%
Western Europe	83.3%
Eastern Europe	70.7%
Southern Europe	76.1%
Northern Africa	49.8%
Western Africa	15.2%
Middle Africa	9.4%
Southern Africa	43.3%
Eastern Africa	9.6%
Central Asia	31.3%
Western Asia	61.2%
Eastern Asia	72.8%
Southern Asia	33%
South-Eastern Asia	62.1%
Oceania	62.7%

The global average is at 59.9%, so more than half of the global population is connected to social media, at this point.

Slowly but steadily, social media usage is growing in even the poorest regions of the world like Eastern and Middle Africa.

Northern and Western Europe are the regions with the highest concentration of social media users, at 83.5% and 83.3% respectively. Europe, it seems, is a step forward compared to the Americas, when it comes to social media adoption.

But let’s see a more detailed analysis of social media usage vs. population per country. Up next!

Section III: Social Media Use Vs. Population per Country

This section will offer a more in-depth look at the share of social media users vs. the population per individual country.

Look below:

Country	Share of Social Media Users vs. Population
Worldwide	59.9%
U.A.E.	94.7%
South Korea	92.2%
Hong Kong	89.9%
Netherlands	88%
Spain	85.6%
Canada	85.5%
Germany	85.1%
Singapore	84.6%
Norway	84.5%
Taiwan	84.5%
U.K.	84.4%
Denmark	83.7%
Switzerland	83%
Sweden	82.1%
Austria	82%
New Zealand	81.%
Belgium	80.8%
Australia	80.8%
France	80.5%
Ireland	79.6%
Saudi Arabia	79%
Philippines	78.6%
Chile	78.5%
Israel	77.2%
Czechia	76.9%
Vietnam	76.5%
Japan	76.1%
Italy	74.5%
Russia	73.3%
China	72.8%
Mexico	72.7%
Portugal	72.5%
U.S.A.	72.5%
Greece	72.4%
Colombia	72%
Thailand	71.9%
Malaysia	69.8%
Argentina	69.6%
Romania	67.6%
Turkey	67.6%
Poland	66.7%
Brazil	65.7%
Morocco	56.6%
Indonesia	51.3%
South Africa	44.8%
Egypt	41.9%
India	32.8%
Kenya	22.9%
Ghana	22.1%
Nigeria	15.1%

When looking at the data per country, we can see that African countries have the least share of social media users vs. their total population. Just as expected.

At the top of the chart is the United Arab Emirates, with a 94.7% total share of social media users vs. its entire population.

The U.A.E. has a special position on this list because there are many expatriates living there, and many statistics show the number of social media users above 100%.

That’s because those statistics also include expats as part of the population which this study doesn’t, thankfully.

Next, I’ll show you the share of social media users who were active in April 2023 per world region. Keep reading!

Section IV: Share of Active Global Social Media Users VS. Total Number of Social Media Users per Region

This statistic will show you how many of the total social media users in a region were active during April 2023.

See the data below:

Location	Share of Active Social Media Users vs. Total Social Media Users
Northern America	6.8%
Central America	3%
Southern America	7.2%
Caribbean	0.5%
Northern Europe	2.2%
Western Europe	4%
Eastern Europe	5%
Southern Europe	2.8%
Northern Africa	2.6%
Western Africa	1.6%
Middle Africa	0.5%
Southern Africa	0.7%
Eastern Africa	1.1%
Central Asia	0.6%
Western Asia	4.1%
Eastern Asia	29.6%
Southern Asia	16.3%
South-Eastern Asia	10.4%
Oceania	0.7%

Alright, these are very interesting results. Based on this data, most of the world’s social media users have been inactive during April 2023, across all regions.

Except for Asia:

• Southern Asia – 16.3%
• Eastern Asia – 29.6%
• South-Eastern Asia – 19.4%

These figures are impressive considering that the rest of the world’s regions revolved around 0.5%-7.2% of total active social media users.

The next in line is Southern America with 7.2% active social media users in April 2023. That’s around 4 times fewer active users compared to Eastern Asia during the same period.

Asian countries are heavily into social media and internet use, as there are even studies that showcase this. It’s not a surprise to see these results.

Let’s move on to the next sections!

Section V: Daily Time Spent Using Social Media per Quarter

In this section, I’ll be looking at how much time social media users spent daily on social media platforms globally.

The data I found ranges from Q4 2020 to Q4 2022 and it shows increases and decreases in daily usage from quarter to quarter.

Let’s see:

Period	Daily Usage	% Increase/Decrease
Q4 2020	2 hours and 22 minutes
Q1 2021	2 hours and 24 minutes	+1.4% from last quarter
Q2 2021	2 hours and 27 minutes	+2.1% from last quarter
Q3 2021	2 hours and 28 minutes	+0.7% from last quarter
Q4 2021	2 hours and 29 minutes	+0.7% from last quarter
Q1 2022	2 hours and 29 minutes	0% from last quarter
Q2 2022	2 hours and 28 minutes	-0.7%% from last quarter
Q3 2022	2 hours and 31 minutes	+2% from last quarter
Q4 2022	2 hours and 24 minutes	-4.6% from last quarter

Starting in Q4 2020 and ending in Q2 2022, the daily social media usage seems to have increased gradually, from 2 hours and 22 minutes to 2 hours and 29 minutes.

Then, in Q2 2022, there was a 0.7% decrease equal to 1 minute of use per day. In Q3 2022, the usage increased by 3 minutes, and then it decreased by 7 minutes in Q4 2022.

All in all, social media usage was still up by 2 minutes in Q4 2022 compared to the same period in 2020.

The large decrease in social media use in Q4 2022 likely coincides with the lessening of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and people going back to work.

Still, it seems the pandemic left its mark on the world, as social media use is still up by 2 minutes.

Section VI: Daily Time Spent Using Social Media per Country in April 2023

It’s time to look at the average daily usage of social media per country and see how the world is faring. This data is up-to-date from April 2023.

Here it is:

Country	Daily Time Spent on Social Media
Worldwide	2 hours and 24 minutes
Nigeria	3 hours and 58 minutes
Ghana	3 hours and 55 minutes
Brazil	3 hours and 44 minutes
Philippines	3 hours and 36 minutes
Kenya	3 hours and 35 minutes
South Africa	3 hours and 28 minutes
Chile	3 hours and 26 minutes
Colombia	3 hours and 23 minutes
Indonesia	3 hours and 16 minutes
Argentina	3 hours and 11 minutes
Mexico	3 hours and 11 minutes
U.A.E.	2 hours and 59 minutes
Saudi Arabia	2 hours and 50 minutes
Turkey	2 hours and 49 minutes
Malaysia	2 hours and 46 minutes
Morocco	2 hours and 42 minutes
Egypt	2 hours and 38 minutes
India	2 hours and 33 minutes
Thailand	2 hours and 32 minutes
Portugal	2 hours and 26 minutes
Romania	2 hours and 19 minutes
Vietnam	2 hours and 18 minutes
Israel	2 hours and 17 minutes
New Zealand	2 hours and 17 minutes
Russia	2 hours and 16 minutes
U.S.A.	2 hours and 15 minutes
Singapore	2 hours and 10 minutes
Norway	2 hours and 1 minute
China	1 hour and 56 minutes
Australia	1 hour and 55 minutes
Canada	1 hour and 55 minutes
Sweden	1 hour and 55 minutes
Taiwan	1 hour and 53 minutes
Spain	1 hour and 52 minutes
Denmark	1 hour and 51 minutes
Poland	1 hour and 51 minutes
Hong Kong	1 hour and 50 minutes
Ireland	1 hour and 50 minutes
Greece	1 hour and 49 minutes
U.K.	1 hour and 48 minutes
France	1 hour and 46 minutes
Czechia	1 hour and 45 minutes
Italy	1 hour and 45 minutes
Belgium	1 hour and 40 minutes
Netherlands	1 hour and 37 minutes
Germany	1 hour and 36 minutes
Switzerland	1 hour and 32 minutes
Austria	1 hour and 31 minutes
South Korea	1 hour and 6 minutes
Japan	50 minutes

A very interesting observation is that the chart for daily time spent using social media is almost entirely inversed compared to the one showing the share of the population using social media.

In that one, African countries were at the very bottom with a very low percentage of the population using social media.

However, in this chart, those same countries are at the top with the highest daily time spent on social media. This says a lot about the way people spend their time in those countries.

At the bottom of the chart is Japan, which apparently spends the least amount of daily time on social media – only 50 minutes.

Section VII: Daily Time Spent Using Social Media per Age & Gender

Let’s see how people spend time on social media based on their age and gender. This data looks at the average amount of time spent on social media by all internet users aged 16-64 daily.

Here’s the chart:

Age Range	Male	Female
16-24	2 hours and 36 minutes	3 hours and 5 minutes
25-34	2 hours and 34 minutes	2 hours and 49 minutes
34-44	2 hours and 16 minutes	2 hours and 28 minutes
45-54	1 hour and 55 minutes	2 hours and 2 minutes
55-64	1 hour and 29 minutes	1 hour and 40 minutes

It seems that women of all ages spend more time on social media compared to men, and there’s a downtrend based on age.

The older the person, the less time they’ll spend on social media daily. That makes sense since the older you are, the more your priorities and interests change, and social media might not be as attractive anymore.

Still, even in the 55-64 age range, people spend at least an hour and a half on social media per day, so we can easily say that social media is embedded in our lives.

Section VIII: Social Media Usage Vs. Total Internet Usage per Quarter

Next, I’ll show you the percentage of time spent on social media out of the total time spent while using the internet. First, we’ll look at the quarterly stats:

Period	Daily Usage	% Increase/Decrease
Q4 2020	34.1%
Q1 2021	34.7%	+1.7% from last quarter
Q2 2021	35.3%	+1.6% from last quarter
Q3 2021	35.5%	+0.7% from last quarter
Q4 2021	36.1%	+1.7% from last quarter
Q1 2022	36.4%	+1% from last quarter
Q2 2022	37.3%	+2.3%% from last quarter
Q3 2022	38%	+2% from last quarter
Q4 2022	36.5%	-4.2% from last quarter

Hmm, so people spend less than half their internet time on social media. Even though their usage has increased from Q4 2020 to Q4 2022, it’s still around 36%, not even 40%.

In Q4 2022, people still used more of their internet time on social media compared to Q4 2022, so two years prior. We observe the same increase as before when we looked at the average social media usage.

Next, I’ll show you the share of social media time from internet time per country, just so we can get a clearer idea of where we stand.

Section IX: Social Media Usage Vs. Total Internet Usage per Country

Which country uses social media the most compared to their use of the internet? Which does so the least? Let’s see the data:

Country	Daily Time Spent on Social Media
Worldwide	36.5%
Indonesia	43.8%
Mexico	40.9%
Brazil	40.4%
Saudi Arabia	40.2%
Chile	39.7%
Philippines	39.5%
Turkey	39.2%
India	38.3%
Colombia	38.3%
Vietnam	38.2%
U.A.E.	38.1%
South Africa	36.7%
Argentina	36.5%
New Zealand	36.4%
China	35.7%
Norway	35.6%
Romania	34.4%
Denmark	34.4%
Egypt	33.6%
Malaysia	33.3%
France	33.2%
Spain	33.1%
Ireland	32.3%
U.S.A.	32%
Australia	31.9%
Portugal	31.6%
Greece	31.6%
U.K.	31.6%
Israel	31.2%
Thailand	31.1%
Sweden	30.8%
Canada	30.5%
Germany	30.5%
Singapore	30.4%
Italy	30.3%
Poland	30%
Belgium	29.9%
Netherlands	29.5%
Czechia	29.3%
Russia	28%
Hong Kong	27.8%
Switzerland	27.7%
Austria	27.5%
Taiwan	26.3%
South Korea	21.7%
Japan	21.6%

Globally, it looks like we spend around 36.5% of all our internet time on social media, and the country with the highest share of social media time is Indonesia, followed by Mexico and Brazil.

Japan is, as always, at the very bottom, followed by South Korea, Taiwan, and Austria. They really don’t use social media that much compared to their use of the internet.

To be perfectly honest, I was half expecting some countries to go over 50% in their share of social media use compared to internet use. But we’re still looking good, I see.

Now, let’s have a look at social media use compared to internet usage based on gender.

Section X: Social Media Usage vs. Total Internet Usage per User Age & Gender

Here’s all the data I managed to find:

Age Range	Male Social Media Usage Share	Female Social Media Usage Share
16-24	36.4%	40%
25-34	36.8%	39.9%
34-44	35.1%	37.9%
45-54	33%	34.7%
55-64	29.4%	32.8%

It looks like female users are still taking the lead for this one – they’re using more of their internet time on social media compared to men.

The difference is not significant but it’s there. This tells us that women have taken to social media more than men or they find more enjoyment in it.

When it comes to age, I’m seeing a descending usage trend the older the users are, which is what we always see. The smallest decrease in usage is between the 16-24 to 25-34 age bracket.

The largest is between the 45-54 to 55-64 for women, and the 34-44 to 45-54 for men. So there’s a difference in that regard too – men get tired of social media or they stop using it much earlier than women.

Moving on!

Section XI: Main Reasons for Using Social Media

Social media users are very diverse in their motivations for using social media. Below, I’ll show you the most common reasons as of April 2023:

Reason for Using Social Media	% Of Users
Keeping in touch with friends and family	48.2%
Filling spare time	36.8%
Readings news stories	34.5%
Finding content	29.2%
Seeing what’s being talked about	27.6%
Finding inspiration for things to do and buy	25.5%
Finding products to purchase	25.3%
Watching live streams	22.8%
Sharing and discussing opinions with others	22.6%
Making new contacts	22.2%
Watching or following sports	21.9%
Seeing content from your favorite brands	21.5%
Work-related networking or research	21%
Finding like-minded communities and interest groups	19.9%
Following celebrities or influencers	19.6%

As of April 2023, 48.2% of all social media users in the world are using social media to keep in touch with friends and family. This statistic increased since the last time I’ve seen it.

The second most-voted reason is to fill up my spare time, which is almost what I expected. The other reasons are pretty common, so nothing too interesting.

It’s ironic that the “Making new contacts” reason is only at 22.2%. People aren’t really using social media to meet new people. They already have their friends and family there which they talk to.

But how about the same statistic but this time, based on age? This should be more interesting. Keep reading!

Section XII: Main Reasons for Using Social Media per Age

People of different ages have different interests in using social media, and the data I found will show us exactly what those reasons are:

Reason	16-24 Years Old	25-34 Years Old	35-44 Years Old	45-54 Years Old	55-64 Years Old
Friends & Family	46.5%	46.5%	48%	50.8%	52.3%
Filling Up Spare Time	41.8%	38.2%	35.5%	33.3%	29.8%
Finding Content	33.4%	31.3%	27.9%	26.2%	21.5%
Seeing Trending Topics	31%	29.8%	27.4%	24.6%	19.4%
Reading News Stories	30.1%	34.4%	36.5%	36.9%	36.8%
Ideas About Things to Do & Buy	27.7%	27.2%	25.5%	23.4%	19.5%
Following Influencers & Celebrities	24.5%	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply
Finding Products to Buy	23.9%	26.7%	26.5%	25.1%	22.6%
Making New Contacts	23.8%	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	20.2%	16.9%
Watching Live Streams	23.8%	25.5%	23.2%	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply
Activities for Work	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	23.1%	20.7%	Does Not Apply
Seeing Content from Brands	Does Not Apply	24%	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply
Sharring & Discussing Opinions	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	23%	22.7%	20.3%
Finding Like-Minded People	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	17.9%
Watching Sports	Does Not Apply	23.9%	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply	Does Not Apply

Here are a few conclusions I can draw from this chart:

• The older a user is, the more interested they become in maintaining contact with friends and family on social media
  
• The older a user is, the more interested they become in reading news stories on social media
  
• The older a user is, the more likely they are to try and find like-minded people on social media
  
• Usually, the younger a user is, the more interested they are in influencers, live streams, and products to buy
  
• On average, older users narrow down their interests significantly on social media

Things like finding stuff to buy or watching live streams, following influencers or seeing trending topics become less important the older we get, apparently.

Section XIII: Most Used Social Media Platforms In the World

Let’s take a look at the most popular social media platforms in the world as of April 2023 and how many users they have:

Social Media Platform	Number of Users
Facebook	2.963 billion users
YouTube	2.527 billion users
WhatsApp	2 billion users
Instagram	2 billion users
WeChat	1.313 billion users
TikTok	1.092 billion users
Facebook Messenger	1.036 billion users
Snapchat	750 million users
Douyin	730 million users
Telegram	700 million users
Kuaishou	640 million users
Sina Weibo	586 million users
QQ	572 million users
Pinterest	450 million users

As always, Facebook is running the pack with almost 3 billion monthly active users in April 2023. Next in line is YouTube with 2.527 billion monthly active users. There’s still a long way before YouTuber overtakes Facebook if that will even happen.

We’re also seeing WhatsApp and Instagram finally hitting 2 billion monthly active users after what seemed like an eternity.

TikTok is nearing 1.1 billion monthly active users and will likely pass that number pretty soon. And Pinterest is lagging at the back of the pack with 450 million active users.

Let’s move to the next section!

Section XIV: Average Number of Social Media Platforms Used per Country

How many social media platforms do people use simultaneously? Let’s look at the data per country:

Country	Average Number of Social Media Platforms Used
Worldwide	6.6
Brazil	8.1
Indonesia	8
U.A.E.	7.9
Philippines	7.9
Saudi Arabia	7.7
South Africa	7.7
Malaysia	7.6
Mexico	7.6
India	7.6
Colombia	7.4
Turkey	7.4
Chile	7.2
Singapore	7
Egypt	6.8
Argentina	6.8
Portugal	6.8
Greece	6.7
Thailand	6.5
U.S.A.	6.5
Romania	6.5
Vietnam	6.4
Hong Kong	6.4
China	6.3
Ireland	6.2
Kenya	6.2
Spain	6.2
Norway	6
Sweden	6
New Zealand	6
U.K.	6
Canada	5.9
Australia	5.9
Taiwan	5.9
Italy	5.8
Poland	5.8
Nigeria	5.8
Israel	5.8
Denmark	5.8
Switzerland	5.7
Netherlands	5.5
France	5.5
Belgium	5.4
Austria	5.4
Czechia	5.2
Germany	5.1
Ghana	5
Russia	4.9
Morocco	4.7
South Korea	4.3
Japan	3.6

The worldwide average number of social media platforms used per country per month is 6.6, while Brazil is at 8.1, followed by Indonesia at 8.

That’s a lot of social media platforms if you ask me. But I guess they add up once you start looking at the data.

Japan is at the very bottom, yet again, with only 3.6 social media platforms used per month by its users. At this point, it’s far from a surprise and something to be expected.

Alright, this will be the end of Part I of this comprehensive analysis of social media in 2023. Stay tuned for Part II!

Sources

1. Data Reportal – Digital 2023 April Global Statshot Report