Facebook User & Growth Statistics

Facebook is the largest social media platform online, both the time on the platform and its daily active user base have grown year-over-year since its humble beginnings in a Harvard dorm room.

So, how many people are on Facebook right now in 2023?

On this page, you’re about to see the latest statistical data on just how huge the most famous social network really is.

• Key Facebook Statistics
• Confusion: Facebook’s Family & Platform User Count
• The Number of Facebook Platform User Accounts
• Facebook Family Product Metrics
• Facebook User Growth Rate History
• Facebook Users by Country
• Most Used Social Media Platforms Worldwide
• Facebook Mobile vs. Desktop Usage Statistics
• Popular Facebook User Demographics
• Average Time Spent on Facebook per Day
• What Are the Highest Traffic Times on Facebook?
• How Many Employees Does Facebook Have?

Being the largest of all the social networks, Facebook has a constant evolution of the demographics, algorithms, tools, and usage trends, it’s essential to stay on top of the statistics!
Here are the killer Facebook stats from this roundup:

Key Facebook Statistics

• DAUs – Facebook daily active users: Right now, 2.09 billion daily users access Facebook’s platform, a 5.09% increase year-over-year
• MAUs – Facebook monthly active users: Right now, 3.05 billion monthly users access Facebook’s platform, a 7.18% increase year-over-year
• Facebook reported that it removed 1.5 billion fake accounts in Q4 2022 alone
• India has the most Facebook users with over 385.65 million, followed by the US (188.6 million), Indonesia (136.35 million), Brazil (111.75 million), and Mexico (94.8 million)
• Facebook is the largest social media platform globally at 3.05 billion monthly active users worldwide, followed by YouTube (2.49 billion), and WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Instagram, all bringing in over a billion users
• Highest traffic time on Facebook is Wednesday at 9 am and 1 pm, posting then will typically get the most engagement
• 57.53% of the world’s active internet users access Facebook monthly, and 74.72% access ‘Family’ owned services (FB, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp) every month
• DAPs – Facebook ‘Family’ daily active people: Right now, 3.14 billion daily people access Facebook-owned services (FB, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp), an 7.17% increase year-over-year
• MAPs – Facebook ‘Family’ monthly active people: Right now, 3.96 billion people access Facebook-owned services (FB, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp) on a monthly basis, a 6.74% increase year-over-year
• Facebook’s family product’s user base is equal to the current population of Africa, Europe, North, and South America combined
• Facebook currently has 86,482 full-time employees, a 20.16% increase year-over-year

Facebook’s Family & Platform User Count

Let’s kick things off with a simple breakdown of the misinformation online surrounding the platform’s daily and monthly user figures.

Every quarter Facebook releases their investor reports where they break down how many users are on Facebook into two categories, these often get mixed up when quoted:

1. Facebook daily/monthly active users: The number of daily or monthly active users on Facebook as a website and app
2. Family daily/monthly active people: The number of daily or monthly active people on Facebook ‘family’ owned services, such as Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram

We’ll start with Facebook as a platform only.

The Number of Facebook Platform User Accounts

Next, we’ll look at the current number of Facebook users using investor data on daily and monthly active accounts accessed via the website or a mobile device app.

To be clear, this does NOT include “Family” products like Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

How Many People Use Facebook?

According to Facebook’s most recent investor report, Facebook currently has 3.049 billion monthly active users (MAUs).

Furthermore, the number of Facebook’s daily active users (DAUs) currently stands at 2.085 billion people, meaning 68.38% of the total monthly users log in on a mobile device or desktop each day.

Now let’s look at the current daily and monthly user base in a little more detail.

Number of Facebook Monthly Active Users

Key Statistics:

• Facebook currently has 3.049 billion monthly active users (MAUs)
• Last quarter’s investors’ report shows a 3.08% increase in MAUs year-over-year
• 68.38% of the monthly users will log in daily on mobile devices or desktop
• 57.53% of the world’s active internet users access Facebook every month
• 37.75% of the world’s total population uses Facebook every month
• If we put the number of people that use Facebook into continents, it would surpass the total population of Africa, Europe, and North America combined
• 98.5% of user accounts access the platform via mobile phone

Sources: Statista 1, Statista 2, Statista 3, Meta, Worldometers

Number of Facebook Daily Active Users

Key Statistics:

• Facebook currently has 2.085 billion daily active users (DAUs) on average

  

• Last quarter’s investors’ report shows a 5.09% DAUs increase year-over-year
• 68.38% of the monthly users will log in daily on mobile devices or desktop
• 39.34% of the world’s active internet users access Facebook daily
• 25.82% of the world’s total population use Facebook daily
• 98.5% of user accounts access the platform via mobile phone

Sources: Statista 1, Statista 2, Statista 3, Meta, Worldometers

Facebook Family Product Metrics

Next up, we’ll dive into the number of Facebook users by daily or monthly active people on ‘family’ owned products as a whole such as:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Messenger
• WhatsApp

These figures include interaction on both mobile device applications and web browsers and will show us exactly how many people are on Facebook’s network of family sites.

How Many People Use Facebook’s Family of Products?

According to the latest Q3 2023 investor report, the current global number of people using Facebook services is 3.96 billion monthly active people (MAPs). On average, 79.29% of these users are daily active people (DAPs). That means 3.14 billion people log in daily to one of Facebook’s family-owned services, which include WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.

Now let’s look at the current daily and monthly user base in a little more detail.

Facebook ‘Family’ Product Monthly Active People

Key Statistics:

• In total, 3.96 billion monthly active people (MAPs) access Facebook-owned products including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger
• Facebook, as a stand-alone platform, gets 3.05 billion monthly active users, of which may have accounts on other family products
• WhatsApp as a stand-alone platform gets 2 billion monthly active users, of which may have accounts on other family products
• Instagram, as a stand-alone platform, gets more than 2 billion monthly active users, of which may have accounts on other family products
• Last quarter’s investors’ report shows a 6.74% increase in monthly active people year-over-year
• 79.29% of the monthly people will log in daily to one of these family-owned services
• 74.72% of the world’s active internet users access Facebook-owned services monthly
• 49.04% of the world’s total population uses Facebook-owned services monthly
• If we put the number of people that use Facebook’s Family of products into continents, it would exceed the total population of Africa, Europe, North and South America combined

Sources: Statista 1, Statista 2, Statista 3, Statista 4, Meta, Worldometers

Facebook ‘Family’ Product Daily Active People

Key Statistics:

• In total, 3.14 billion daily active people (DAPs) access Facebook-owned products including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger
• Facebook, as a stand-alone platform, gets 2.9 billion daily active users, which may have accounts on other family products
• Last quarter’s investors’ report shows a 7.17% increase in daily active people year-over-year
• 79.29% of the monthly people will log in daily to one of these family-owned services
• 59.25% of the world’s active internet users access Facebook-owned services daily
• 38.89% of the world’s total population use Facebook-owned services daily

Sources: Statista 1, Statista 2, Meta, Worldometers

Facebook User Growth Rate History

Facebook’s current daily active user growth rate is around 5.1% year-over-year, up from 4.4% in 2022.

Facebook daily active user growth rate year-over-year

• Q1-2011 to Q1-2012: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 41.4%
• Q1-2012 to Q1-2013: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 24.5%
• Q1-2013 to Q1-2014: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 22.4%
• Q1-2014 to Q1-2015: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 16.7%
• Q1-2015 to Q1-2016: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 16.5%
• Q1-2016 to Q1-2017: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 17.8%
• Q1-2017 to Q1-2018: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 12.9%
• Q1-2018 to Q1-2019: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 7.8%
• Q1-2019 to Q1-2020: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 11.0%
• Q1-2020 to Q1-2021: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 15.3%
• Q1-2021 to Q1-2022: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 4.4%
• Q1-2022 to Q1-2023: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 3.9%
• Q2-2022 to Q2-2023: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 4.9%
• Q3-2022 to Q3-2023: Facebook’s user growth rate (DAUs) was 5.1%

Sources: Statista, Meta)

Just looking at the numbers, it may look like Facebook is slowing down on its new user growth rate, but you have to consider its global size.

After all, you would expect a social network with half the world’s internet users to gradually lose momentum, right?

Statista places the world’s internet users at 5.3 billion people, and Facebook has 3.05 billion monthly active users – and that’s not even counting their family services like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.

What is bad news for Facebook is the fact they see the most significant growth rates in Asia-Pacific and other territories where the company’s average revenue per user is $5.12.

If that same user growth were in the US and Canada, the average revenue would be $56.11 per user. In fact, North America and Europe generate 67.26% of the company’s revenue.

Facebook Users by Country

According to the latest data, the country with the most Facebook users is India with over 385.65 million active users, followed by the US (188.6 million), Indonesia (136.35 million), Brazil (111.75 million), and Mexico (94.8 million).

With that, here’s a table that contains the full data:

Source: DataReportal

Most Used Social Media Platforms Worldwide

As of 2023, Facebook is the largest social media platform globally with 3.03 billion monthly active users worldwide.

YouTube follows with 2.49 billion, with WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and WeChat, all having over a billion users.

Source: Statista

Facebook Mobile vs. Desktop Usage Statistics

Facebook has 98.5% of its users accessing the platform with a mobile device, and 81.8% of those users only use a phone to access the social network.

Users with both desktop and mobile are 16.7%, while desktop-only users are a mere 1.5%.

Source: Statista

Popular Facebook User Demographics

Globally, 56.8% of Facebook users are male compared to a 43.2% female user base. In the US, however, 54.7% of Facebook users were female, while another 45.3% were male.

Since the platform’s launch in 2004, many younger generations have now grown up with Facebook. As the social network evolves with new tools, algorithms, and trends, so does the user base.

Right here, we take a look at the current demographics of the world’s biggest social media platform.

Facebook Age & Gender Demographics:

Women are the most frequent users of Facebook, with 77% of women versus 61% of men using the platform on desktop or mobile devices.

Millennials are on average the most popular age group of Facebook users:

• 70% of people aged 18-29
• 77% of people aged 30-49
• 73% of people aged 50-64
• 50% of people aged 65+

Facebook Education Demographics:

• 64% of people educated at high school or less
• 71% of people educated at the college level
• 73% of people educated at more than college level

Facebook Income Demographics:

• 70% of people earning less than $30,000
• 76% of people earning between $30,000 to $49,999
• 61% of people earning more than $75,000

Source: DataReportal, Statista, Pew Research

Average Time Spent on Facebook per Day

According to an eMarketer study of Americans aged 18+, the average time spent on Facebook per day is 30.9 minutes in 2023. This is down 2.1 minutes from the 33 minutes in both 2021 and 2022.

Key Statistics:

• The average time spent on Facebook per day is 30.9 minutes
• According to this data, the average Facebook user over the age of 18 will spend nearly 8 days a year on the platform
• To put it in perspective, the average time spent on TikTok is around 53.8 minutes per day, 34.1 minutes per day on X (Twitter), and 33.1 minutes per day on Instagram.

Source: eMarketer 1, eMarketer 1

So why is the world’s biggest social network seeing a decrease in the average time spent on Facebook each day?

One important factor to mention is that younger users are spending their time on other social platforms like TikTok and similar alternate digital experiences.

The company has made a concerted effort to influence its users’ engagement with the content they consider ‘meaningful.’ This means we’re seeing more posts from groups, family and friends, and less, which means less from mainstream media, brands, and businesses they follow.

The company knew this would result in a negative impact on platform time, but it restores some balance to how the user feels about the platform as a whole.

Despite these changes, Facebook is still king for the time spent on social media.

What Are the Highest Traffic Times on Facebook?

When digging into the numbers, the best traffic times on Facebook are weekdays between 9 am and 3 pm. This is where posts see the most engagement. Looking specifically at the highest traffic time, Wednesday is the best day, where you can target posts specifically at 11 am and 1 pm.

Key Statistics:

• Best times to post to Facebook: Wednesday at 9 am and 1 pm
• The Highest Facebook engagement times are weekdays from 10 am to 1 pm, generally posting at 9 am when people start work and then again at 11 am – 1 pm, where engagement is high
• The worst times to post to Facebook are Saturday and Sunday, especially if you’re posting after 8 pm or before 5 am as these times have the least engagement
• Lowest Facebook engagement times: Early mornings and evenings, before 5 am and after 9 pm have the least amount of engagement per day

Source: Sproutsocial

As I mentioned before, in 2019 Facebook changed its algorithm once again to make the news feed shows more ‘meaningful interactions,’ prioritizing friends, family, and groups over brands.

With these restrictions in place, as a brand, it’s more important than ever to consider posting at the right time to maximize your organic content exposure. You can measure this performance from the platform’s own analytics ‘Facebook Page Insights’ and make adjustments for your audience.

How Many Employees Does Facebook Have?

The latest records from Facebook’s investor report show the number of full-time employees is 86,482, and this is up 14,512 from 2021.

A massive increase from Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm room in 2004.

Source: Statista

Conclusion

That’s it for my roundup of Facebook’s usage statistics and social media domination facts.

As someone who focuses on traffic generation for a living, I was blown away to see Facebook’s monthly active users reaching over half the world’s active internet users.

Now I’d like to hear what stat shocked you the most?

What else would you like to see added to this roundup?

Jump in and leave a comment below.