If your Facebook friends list includes your aunt, your boss, your ex-boyfriend, and your hairdresser, you probably already know that Facebook’s demographics are far-reaching.
Yep, it seems like no matter who you are or where you are, you probably have a Facebook account. But take a closer look at the numbers, and you’ll find a more complex picture of who uses Facebook — and how usage has shifted over the last 17 years.
With constant product updates — and plenty of legal turmoil — there’s always a new factor at play in the world of Facebook. (It’s a thrill a minute over there!)
So if you have plans to use Facebook to connect with customers, boost sales, or break into new markets, it’s vital to stay on top of the latest Facebook user demographics. Here are the latest and greatest stats. Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.
27 Facebook user demographics you need to know in 2021
1. Facebook has more than 2.74 billion monthly active users
Facebook’s latest figures show more than 2.74 billion users — that’s an increase of 12%, year over year. (And, fun fact, more than the entire population of India and China combined.)
On a daily basis, there are more than 1.82 million people active on Facebook. That figure is also up from 2019, marking a 12% year-over-year increase.
2. Facebook estimates that at least 412 million accounts are fake or duplicate
Approximately 5% of Facebook’s worldwide monthly active users are fake accounts. In the second and third quarters of 2020, Facebook says it disabled more than 2.8 billion fake profiles.
Another stunning stat? Approximately 11% of monthly active users are duplicate accounts: that’s around 275 million profiles.
3. Facebook’s ad revenues grew 22% year-over-year
Between July and September in 2020, Facebook says its advertising growth rate was up 22% from the previous year. It’s a reflection of how the platform has thrived during a time of increased online interaction.
Marketers can reach 32% of the population (aged 13 and older) with advertising, so get in there!
Forecasts suggest growth will remain steady in 2021. As Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Wehner, said in a recent earnings report, “Looking ahead to 2021, we continue to face a significant amount of uncertainty. We believe the pandemic has contributed to an acceleration in the shift of commerce from offline to online, and we experienced increasing demand for advertising as a result of this acceleration.”
Sounds like the ad marketplace is going to be pretty busy… so you’d better brush up on those Facebook marketing skills.
4. Most adults log on to Facebook every day
The average U.S. adult spends an average of 34 minutes per day on the platform.
Source: eMarketer
Those minutes add up pretty quickly, when you consider that 73% of U.S. Facebook users check the platform daily, and 93% use it weekly.
5. Six in 10 U.S. adults use Facebook
According to Edison Research, 63% of U.S. adults over the age of 12 use the social network.
6. Facebook reaches the largest number of users aged 13-17
Tik Tok has been hailed as the latest teen craze, but Facebook still corners the social market when it comes to reaching teens around the world.
Research from Hootsuite and We Are Social reveals that the platform can reach upward of 109 million teens. On Snapchat, maximum reach among teens is 71 million. Instagram reach for the 13 to 17 age range is 56.6 million.
But, Facebook’s youth advertising audience may be shrinking. The company’s advertising tools show that marketers have access to about 10 million fewer teens compared to last year.
7. Facebook is used by people of all ages
Some social media networks tend to be popular with specific age groups. Take LinkedIn for example, which unsurprisingly, is most popular among U.S. adults between 25 to 49 years old.
Facebook, on the other hand, has a fairly even spread of users across most age groups.
For example, 24% of Facebook’s advertising audience is in the 18-24 range, and 10.4% are in the 45-54 range. It’s a real family affair!
Source: Hootsuite Digital 2020
8. Seniors are the smallest, but fastest growing Facebook age demographic
Across all social media channels, signups tend to drop off with age. That’s true on Facebook, too. People over the age of 55 are less likely to be on Facebook than younger generations.
But seniors also happen to be the fastest growing age demographic on the site. According to Pew Research Center, the share of older Americans on the platform has more than doubled since 2012.
Currently, users 55 and older make up over 10% of Facebook’s advertising audience. When it comes to Facebook age demographics, this trend will likely increase as the middle-aged population ages into the senior sector.
9. Facebook is the most popular social network among seniors
Seniors may be Facebook’s smallest age group in the United States, but they flock to Facebook in larger numbers than other social sites.
Among Americans 65 and older, 46% use Facebook. Compare that with 38% on YouTube, 15% on Pinterest, and 11% on LinkedIn.
Here’s another fun fact: data shows older people share more fake news on Facebook.
10. Globally, more men use Facebook than women
A study of global Facebook users from Statista shows that 56% of Facebook users over the age of 13 are male. Male users between the ages of 25 and 34 years old are the biggest demographic on the platform overall.
In the U.S., however, women are the bigger user demographic.
11. Women are more likely to create meaningful Facebook Groups
According to Facebook, women are 40% more likely to create groups that become meaningful to people.
Women also create nearly 70% of all fundraisers on Facebook.
12. People who feel their use of Facebook is problematic are likely to be young men
A recent study by Facebook researchers set out to understand the negative effects of social media and inform the design of supportive tools.
The report, entitled “Understanding Perceptions of Problematic Facebook Use,” finds that people who find their Facebook use troublesome are likely to be young males going through a difficult period, such as a break up.
In terms of behavior, they tend to spend more time on Facebook, especially at night. Rather than scrolling through the News Feed, they’re likely looking at profiles, and messaging friends more frequently.
Ironically, people who find their use of Facebook problematic also rate the network as valuable to them.
13. Facebook is the most popular social network in rural areas
About three-in-four U.S. adults who use Facebook live in the city. But suburban and rural residents also use Facebook in fairly equal numbers.
More interestingly, compared to other social channels, Facebook has the highest penetration in rural areas. Approximately 66% of U.S. adults in rural regions use Facebook. That’s followed by YouTube with 64%, then Pinterest where the number drops off to 26%.
14. In the U.S., African American and Hispanic are the most popular multicultural affinities
Facebook uses machine learning to designate its users with “multicultural affinities.”
Not all users are given a designation, but a recent survey in the U.S. found that among those who are, 43% are thought to have an interest in African American culture.
The same share or participants with designations—43%—were assigned an affinity to Hispanic culture. One-in-ten had an affinity with Asian American culture. There are no “caucasian” or “white culture” classifications.
It’s worth noting that only 60% of people given a multicultural affinity felt a “very” or “somewhat” strong connection to the culture. Some 37% felt otherwise. More than half considered themselves to be members of the multicultural group, while 39% said they were not.
15. The majority of Facebook’s audience is based outside of the U.S.
U.S. and Canada combined make up just 10% of Facebook’s daily active users. Europe, meanwhile, clocks in at around 40%, with the majority coming from elsewhere in the world.
16. User growth in Europe bounced back in 2019
Facebook lost more than a million European users amid the 2018 privacy scandals, dropping from 376 to 375 million monthly active users over a three-month period.
In 2020, it jumped even higher: the company counted 410 million monthly active European users in the second quarter of the year.
17. Asia-Pacific is Facebook’s most active region
Around 42% of Facebook’s monthly users can be found in the Asia-Pacific region. On a daily basis, the region is home to 39% of Facebook’s active users.
Source: Facebook
That’s a strong showing, considering that Facebook is still banned in China (along with Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and other sites).
18. India boasts Facebook’s largest advertising audience
With a reach of 260 million people, India is home to the biggest audience for Facebook advertisers (at least in terms of reach). It’s followed by the United States, where advertisers can reach 180 million people. In third place is Indonesia with a reach of 130 million.
Source: Hootsuite Digital 2020
The audience sizes are impressive, but have gotten smaller. As world-renowned digital expert Simon Kemp (co-author of Digital 2020) notes, the numbers are lower than they were in the previous quarter.
19. India, Indonesia, and the Philippines are Facebook’s fastest growing regions
The greatest audience increase this past year came from Indonesia (up 10 million users), followed by Bangladesh, Mexico, and the Philippines, which each grew by two million.
One of the reasons Facebook gives for the accelerated growth is that digital adoption is spreading rapidly in these regions.
20. Half of Facebook users speak a language other than English
While English-language users account for 56% of the audience, more than 50% of the social network’s 2.7 billion users speak a non-English language.
If you know what languages your audience speaks, you can either rely on the Facebook Translate tool, or try Facebook’s language optimization ad feature. It may also be worthwhile to create multiple Facebook pages for different languages.
Check out our tips for building a multilingual social presence.
21. People in emerging markets are more likely to message businesses
In the Asia-Pacific region, consumers are 1.26x more likely to use Facebook Messenger for product research. In Latin America, 58% of shoppers messaged a business directly last holiday season.
C-commerce (or “conversational commerce”) buyers across a variety of countries plan to increase their spending in these interactions: Brazil, India, and Indonesia among them.
Interestingly, it’s not just Millennials chit-chatting away with salespeople on Messenger. In Vietnam, for example, Baby Boomers are the main force driving c-commerce forward.
22. Mobile reigns supreme, especially in Africa and Latin America
While 19% of global Facebook users access the platform via both phones and computers, a whopping 79% of users only access Facebook with a phone.
In many developing countries, phones are a much more common technology than a laptop or desktop. You’ll see mobile access figures skyrocket in these regions.
23. Facebook is the most popular social network in low income households
Findings from a 2019 Pew Research survey reveal that 69% of U.S. adults in the lowest income households use Facebook. Except for YouTube, no other social network comes close. For example, only 35% of people at the same income level use Instagram.
The economic gap widens among U.S. teens. The same study finds that teenagers in low-income homes are more likely to use Facebook than teens from high-income households. Seven-in-ten teens in households that earn less than $30,000 a year use Facebook, versus 36% of teens who live in homes with an income of $75,000 or more.
That said, overall, Facebook use is fairly evenly distributed across income ranges. The only site that has a higher share of high earners is YouTube.
24. More than a quarter of people feel Facebook does not classify them correctly
Advertisers can target people based on everything from age and location. Facebook also adds other identifiers based on user data and behaviour to help marketers target ads.
Anyone can see what categories Facebook puts them in on the Your ad preferences page. But not everyone thinks Facebook gets it right.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 27% of people think they are not accurately represented by Facebook’s classifications. On the flip side, 59% of users think classifications are “very accurate.”
Right or wrong, about half of Facebook users are not comfortable with how they are categorized. Keep this in mind when targeting your next Facebook ad campaign.
25. Politically, Facebook users are divided
It’s no secret that Facebook tracks the political affiliations of its users.
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that of those in the U.S. who were given a political label, 35% were classified as conservative or very conservative, and 34% were classified as liberal or very liberal. The remaining 29% were classified as moderate.
Most people—73%, in fact—think that their political label is either very or somewhat accurate. The other 27% think their label is not accurate.
26. Four in ten people have taken a break from Facebook
For many Facebook users, a little digital detox is in order from time to time.
Some 42% of U.S. adults have taken a break from Facebook for several weeks or more. And roughly one quarter has deleted the Facebook app from their phone.
27. People love to scroll Facebook on their lunch break
The most recent stats about consumer Facebook behavior revealed that the best time to post on Facebook is noon EST on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday — a little lunchtime check-in, if you will.
Of course, every brand will have its own unique audience behaviors, so use an engagement measurement tool like Hootsuite Analytics to determine what’s best for you.
Now that you know who you can reach on Facebook, here are the top marketing stats that will help you reach them.
With files from Paige Cooper
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