What Percentage of the Population Uses Social Media? (2019–2028)
Recent data on social media usage shows the number of social media users worldwide is set to hit 5.17 billion in 2024. But what proportion of the world does that constitute? In other words, what percentage of the population uses social media?
Here’s a look at the social media penetration rate in recent years and how it’s forecast to evolve.
What percentage of the population uses social media: 2019–2023
According to a study, the global social media penetration rate has increased over the past few years. In 2019, this number was 47.5%, which is to say that just under one out of every two people worldwide were active users of social media. This is defined as those who access a social network at least once a month.
In 2020, this rose by nearly five percentage points, to 52.3%—the largest increase expected between 2019 and 2028. The following year saw the global social media penetration rate grow to 56.5%, which meant that more than half of the world’s population in 2020 and 2021 used social media.
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An annual growth of 3.8 percentage points in 2022 saw social media penetration rates rise to 60.3%. A year later, this figure grew to 63.8%, after a three percentage point increase.
What percentage of the population uses social media: 2024–2028
In 2024, more than two out of every three (66.8%) people worldwide are expected to be active social media users.
The social media penetration rate is set to continue rising over the next few years by 1.7 to 3 percentage points. By 2027, 75.3% of the global population is forecast to be social media users, which approximates to three out of every four people.
From 2019 to 2028, the percentage of the global population using social media is expected to rise by 27.8 percentage points overall.
Social media penetration rate: ranked by country
According to research ranking social media penetration by country, the United Arab Emirates has the highest penetration rate, with 105.6%. This is calculated by dividing the number of social media accounts in a country by its total population. Experts say the UAE’s social media penetration rate is due to the high number of duplicate and fake accounts.
This is followed by Bahrain and Qatar, with penetration rates of 97.4% and 94.4%, respectively. Saudi Arabia is next, with 94%, and Kuwait rounds out the top five, with 93.2%.