Instagram User Statistics 2023: What You Need to Know

Ever since Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012, the photo-sharing app has exploded in popularity and skyrocketed in terms of users active on the platform.

While Instagram reached 1 million users in just three months after its creation in October 2010, that number went up ten times a year later, reaching 10 million users in 2011.

Then it doubled and then something in 2012, reaching 27 million users. Once it got acquired by Facebook, Instagram’s userbase went through a monstrous uptick, though…

Here’s a list of Instagram annual users from 2013 onward:

110 million users in 2013
200 million users in 2014
370 million users in 2015
500 million users in 2016
700 million users in 2017
1 billion users in 2018
1.21 billion users in 2019
1.52 billion users in 2020
1.89 billion users in 2021
2.27 billion users in 2021

Instagram’s user base increased by 308% from 2012 to 2013, going from 27 million annual users to 110 million annual users.

Clearly, the new change in leadership helped propel the young company to incredible heights, and it still hasn’t reached its apex.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of Instagram’s userbase evolution, I’ll give you a list of the most important stats you should keep in mind. Enjoy:

As of January 2023, Instagram has over 1.386 billion daily active users and around 2 billion monthly active users (from 2021)
Instagram’s DAU/MAU Ratio (Daily Active Users divided by Monthly Active Users) is around 69%, meaning that the average monthly user is using Instagram for 20.7 days a month
87% of Instagram users are not from the US
Approximately 25.31% of the world’s population is using Instagram
52.2% of Instagram’s userbase are male, while 47.8% are female
70% of Instagrammers are under 34 years
Instagram is the most downloaded app in the world right now
Users will spend around 11.7 hours per month on Instagram
21% of US Gen Z adults will use Reels weekly
Americans generally spend around 30.1 minutes on Instagram
Instagram is the most preferred app among users aged 16-24 (Gen Z) and women aged 25-34
Instagram sits behind Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp as the 4th most-used social media platform in the world
Instagram only took 3 years to go from 1 billion monthly users to 2 billion monthly users (2018-2021)

Alright, that’s enough tentative stats. I’ll get into more details below, including a look at Instagram’s age and gender distribution of users, daily and monthly users per year, and a perspective into the future of Instagram’s user base. Ready? Keep reading, then!

Age & Gender Distribution on Instagram

As I said previously, Instagram’s user base is generally split at 52.2% male and 47.8% female, but this isn’t a super precise approximation as you’ll find different values across the web. But we don’t need anything more precise, fortunately.

However, by combining age and gender, we’ll obtain more valuable information about who’s using Instagram these days. Take a look at the chart below (source, source, and source):

Age	% of All Users	Gender by Age	In the US	Number of Users in the World
13-17	8%	4.3% male and 3.7% female	6.2%	106.5 million (~8% of the total users)
18-24	30.8%	16.9% male and 13.9% female	25%	407.9 million (30.8% of the total users)
25-34	30.3%	16.4% male and13.9% female	27.8%	406.9 million (30.3% of the total users)
35-44	15.7%	7.6% male and 8.1% female	18.3%	210.1 million (15.7% of the total users)
45-54	8.4%	3.7% male and 4.7% female	11.2%	113 million (8.4% of the total users)
55-64	4.3%	1.7% male and 2.6% female	6.8%	56.9 million (4.2% of the total users)
65+	2.6%	1.1% male and 1.5% female	4.7%	33.8 million (2.5% of the total users)

The 13-34 age category shows pretty much what we would expect – more men than women, but the interesting phenomenon appears when we go past the 34-year-old mark. From that point on, there are more females using Instagram than males.

The trend continues even in the 65+ bracket, with 1.1% of men using Instagram as opposed to 1.5 women. It appears that Instagram appeals more to women once they’re past their middle thirties. What this means, I cannot tell you.

Moreover, we can also see that the US age/usage concept follows the same trend as the overall worldwide stats. The 13-17 age category is still in the minority. The biggest audiences are the 18-24, and 25-34, and then there’s a downtrend from then onward.

It seems that Instagram appeals the most to the 18-24 and 25-34 age categories, and from then on, other social media platforms become more interesting.

Monthly Active Users per Year 2013-2021

There aren’t too many MAU (Monthly Active Users) stats I could find about Instagram, but good old Statista has something. Take a look below:

Month/Year	Monthly Active Users
January 2013	90 million
February 2013	100 million (11.2% growth from last year)
June 2013	130 million (30% growth from last year)
September 2013	150 million (15.4% growth from last year)
March 2014	200 million (33.4% growth from last year)
December 2014	300 million (50% growth from last year)
September 2015	400 million (33.4% growth from last year)
June 2016	500 million (25% growth from last year)
December 2016	600 million (20% growth from last year)
April 2017	700 million (16.7% growth from last year)
September 2017	800 million (14.3% growth from last year)
June 2018	1 billion (25% growth from last year)
December 2021	2 billion (100% growth from the last three years)

There’s scarcely any data to be found about the monthly active users before 2013, but we can only assume that Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012 was a life-changing moment for the platform.

While it had its ups and downs in terms of positive growth, one thing hasn’t changed – Instagram’s user base has continuously grown year after year. The only thing that fluctuated was the growth rate, but that’s far from a surprise.

We don’t have any data post-2021 about Instagram’s monthly active users, so we’re left with the 2 billion mark. But we can safely assume that that number has grown exponentially.

The DAU/MAU Ratio should be well over 60%, which means that out of 30 days, the average monthly user will use Instagram for at least 18 days.

Instagram Userbase Size per Country in 2023

It might be interesting to look at how Instagram has penetrated the market in different countries and draw up some conclusions from there.

Here’s the chart we’re going to work with (Statista):

Country	Number of Users	% of the Total Population Using Instagram
India	229.55 million	16.22%
United States	143.35 million	42.6%
Brazil	113.5 million	52.41%
Indonesia	89.15 million	31.71%
Turkey	48.65 million	56.09%
Japan	45.7 million	36.43%
Mexico	36.7 million	27.7%
United Kingdom	28.75 million	41.77%
Germany	27.45 million	32.49%
Italy	26.2 million	43.51%
France	23.75 million	36.18%
Argentina	23.4 million	50.55%
Spain	21.9 million	46.8%
South Korea	19.25 million	37.47%
Colombia	17.75 million	33.93%
Philippines	17.55 million	15.47%
Thailand	17.35 million	24.7%
Canada	15.9 million	41.18%
Egypt	15.35 million	14.29%
Iraq	14 million	33.64%

As expected, India is towering over all other countries in terms of users, but that’s not a surprise since India’s population (1.416 billion) is around 321.5% larger than the population of the US (336 million).

In other words, around 16.2% of India’s entire population is using Instagram, while around 42.6% of the US population is using Instagram. Clearly, the app has a much more stable foothold in the US, having penetrated substantially more of the local market.

Interestingly enough, the US isn’t at the top of the list regarding the percentage of a given population that’s using Instagram. That award goes to Turkey, where around 56.09% of the population is using Instagram. Out of 86,745,451 million people, around 48,650,000 are using Instagram.

How Will Instagram Fare in the Future?

Personally, I see no reason why Instagram would become unpopular unless it goes through some drastic changes and estranges its main user base. If it keeps doing what it does best, then its future will be sunny and bright.

Experts estimate that its user growth may decrease a bit in 2023 (but still remain positive) but that’s to be expected once a platform goes above the 2 billion active user mark. That’s when it reaches a plateau, so to speak.

I see this going in one of two ways:

Instagram manages to escape Meta’s infamy with the Metaverse and the Virtual Reality debacle that Mark Zuckerberg keeps pushing
Instagram takes over some of the bad reputation associated with Meta (of which it is a part) and may lose some of its users over time, or investors will be slightly more worried about the future of the app

Honestly, anything could happen at this point. It’s quite believable that, since Instagram is part of the Family of Apps under Meta, it might have to suffer a bit from Zuckerberg’s obsession with the Metaverse.

It remains to be seen how much Instagram will lose out in the long run. As always, I’ll be there to cover it and give you the freshest info available!