How Many People Use PayPal Worldwide? (2022–2026)
As the number of people shopping online increases year after year, the demand for online payment methods is set to rise with it. PayPal is ranked among the most popular online payment gateways in the world. But just how many people use PayPal worldwide?
How many users does PayPal have worldwide?
According to recent data, the number of PayPal users worldwide is set to hit 201.2 million in 2023. The number covers global internet users aged 14 and above who access their PayPal accounts and/or use the payment service to purchase items at least once a month. This is a 1.6% annual increase from 198.1 million in 2022 and marks the first time the number of PayPal users is expected to exceed 200 million.
The number of PayPal users is projected to continue rising over the next few years. In 2024, it’s forecast to increase by 3.2%, to hit 207.6 million, before rising further to 213.2 million in 2025. By 2026, analysts expect there to be 217.8 million global PayPal users, a 2.2% annual increase.
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The rise in the number of PayPal users is set to be fairly consistent between 2022 and 2026, with an average annual increase rate of 2.4% and an overall rise of 9.9% over the four-year period.
The increase in the number of people using PayPal is in line with the rise in the service’s total payment volume. According to a recent report, the company’s payment volume for 2022 increased 9% year over year, and the latest numbers show that in Q1 2023, total payment volumes surged by 12% from the previous year.
How many people use PayPal: global penetration
The number of PayPal users isn’t the only PayPal metric that’s been rising. PayPal’s penetration is also set to grow between 2022 and 2026—albeit at a much slower rate.
In 2022, the number of people using PayPal represented 3.3% of the global population. This penetration rate is expected to hold steady in 2023, before rising marginally by 0.1 percentage points, to 3.4% in 2024.
PayPal’s global penetration rate is forecast to be 3.5% in 2026. Analysts credit the increasing use of PayPal to falling demand for cash and skyrocketing reliance on ecommerce, making digital payment methods like PayPal increasingly popular.