In this article, we look at 15 countries that spend the most time on social media. You can skip our detailed analysis on the subject and head over directly to 5 Countries That Spend Most Time On Social Media.
Globally, internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 31 minutes on social media daily, according to Digital 2023: Global Overview Report. This is an increase of 4 minutes from the previous year. Daily usage of social media has increased 55% compared to a decade ago in 2013 when the average amount of time spent on social media was measured at 1 hour and 37 minutes.
The total number of social media users in the world is estimated to be 4.76 billion, which makes up for 59% of the world’s population. Each year, social media users grow by approximately 137 million people. 92% of all internet users today have a social media account. Female share of social media stands at 46.3%, while for males it is 53.7%.
Social media usage remained the highest among the 16-24 years age group, and continues to decline as the age group increases. The lowest levels of usage were recorded for those between 55 and 64 years. As a result, countries like Japan that have an aging population spend the least amount of time on social media in comparison to countries that have a youth bulge.
When it comes to Europe, Northern Europe (83.6%) has the highest percentage of active social media users as a share of the total population, followed by Western Europe (83.3%) at second, and Southern Europe (76.7%) at third. The percentage was estimated to be 73.9% for North America. On the other hand, Asia has the largest share of active social media users in the world. Over 50% of the global social media users are in Asia.
Among countries that were surveyed in the Digital 2023: Global Overview Report, Nigeria topped the list of countries that spend most time on social media, recorded at 4 hours and 31 minutes. People in Japan spend an average of only 51 minutes on social media – the lowest in the world. Five of the main reasons users identified for using social media are keeping touch with friends and family, kill spare time, be aware of news stories, look for content such as articles and videos, and checking what is being talked about.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)'s Facebook is the world’s most used social media platform with nearly 2.96 billion users, followed by YouTube having 2.51 billion users, and WhatsApp and Instagram with close to 2 billion users each. Some other popular social media platforms include TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitter (now rebranded as X).
Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are owned and operated by Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), which is one of the most valuable and largest publicly traded companies in the United States. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) had a revenue of over $116 billion in 2022, and generated $23.2 billion in net income that year. YouTube is an online video sharing platform headquartered in San Bruno, California.
It was founded in 2005, and was acquired for $1.65 billion in 2006 by Google, whose parent company is now Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). YouTube’s 2.51 billion users watch more than one billion hours of videos each day. Last year, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) recorded a revenue of $282 billion, of which over $29 billion came from YouTube advertisements.
Owned by Chinese IT company ByteDance, TikTok is a short-form video hosting platform that was released in September 2016 and has gained popularity across the world over the last few years. By early 2023, it was estimated to have 1.05 billion users according to the Digital 2023: Global Overview Report.
Snapchat is owned by Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) which also maintains Bitmoji and Spectacles. Snapchat was founded as Snapchat Inc. in 2011 as a photo sharing application. It was rebranded in 2016 as Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP). The company has been going through a financial crunch for the last few years, with sales and share value both plunging. Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) registered a net loss of $288 million in the last quarter of 2022.
Twitter, Inc. was a social media company created in 2006. Last April, it was acquired by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk for a deal worth $44 billion, and has undergone several changes since, including a merger with X Holdings, to become X Corp. It has close to 600 million users, and is a common platform used by public figures.
Methodology
We have used DataReportal’s Digital 2023: Global Overview Report, which was prepared in partnership with We Are Social and Meltwater, to rank countries that spend most time on social media. Countries are listed in ascending order of the amount of daily time spent by users aged 16 to 64 on social media.
In the case where the duration of time spent on social media was the same for two or more countries, percentages of population in those countries that used social media were used as a tiebreaker; the one with a higher percentage outranking the other.
Photo by austin-distel on Unsplash
Now let’s head over to the list of countries that spend the most time on social media.
15. India
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 2 hours, 50 minutes
India is the world’s second most populous country and one of the largest economies in the world. It is home to an estimated 467 million social media users, which equates to over 32% of the country’s population. Indians, on average, spend 2 hours and 50 minutes on social media each day. A number of tech giants, including Facebook and YouTube's parent companies Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) respectively, maintain presence in India.
14. Morocco
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 2 hours, 53 minutes
Nearly 90% of Morocco’s population has access to the internet. The number of social media users was 21.3 million in January 2023 according to DataReportal – which is 56.6% of the country’s population. With an average time of 2 hours and 53 minutes spent on social media daily by Moroccans, the nation is ranked 14th in our list.
13. Turkey
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 2 hours, 54 minutes
62.55 million, or 73.1% of Turkey’s population use at least one social media platform. One of the reasons this could be attributed to is the high internet penetration levels in Turkey, estimated to be 83.4% in early 2023. Over 95% of the country’s population have cellular mobile connections as well.
12. Saudi Arabia
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 3 hours, 1 minute
Saudi Arabia has one the highest internet penetration levels in the world, recorded at 99% in January 2023. Moreover, more than 42 million cellular network connections were active in the country, which equates to a staggering 115% of the kingdom’s total population. Saudis, on average, spend a little over 3 hours on social media each day.
11. Argentina
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 3 hours, 15 minutes
People in Argentina spend an average of 3 hours and 15 minutes on social media every day, because of which it ranks among countries that spend most time on social media. Argentina has close to 40 million internet users, of which 36.35 million have a social media account.
10. Indonesia
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 3 hours, 18 minutes
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world, and is the largest economy in southeast Asia. It is projected to be among the top five largest economies in the world by 2050. An average Indonesian spends 3 hours and 18 minutes on social media each day. More than 60% of the country's population has social media presence.
9. Mexico
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 3 hours, 21 minutes
Mexico is home to over 100 million internet users, of which 94 million have at least one social media account. Data published by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s advertisement planning tools show that YouTube’s ad reach in Mexico grew by 1.5% between 2022 and 2023. On average, residents of Mexico spend 3 hours and 21 minutes on social media every day.
8. Ghana
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 3 hours, 28 minutes
Ghana is a country in West Africa that is known for its forestry and rich tradition. While only 19.5% of Ghanaians use social media, it is among the countries that spend most time on social media, with an average individual spending close to 3.5 hours on social media each day. Internet penetration in Ghana was estimated to be 68.2%, which covers slightly over 23 million people in the country. Close to 44 million cellular mobile networks are active in Ghana, which is equivalent to 130% of the population.
7. Chile
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 3 hours, 28 minutes
Chile is home to 19.62 million people. More than 17.5 million of them have internet access, and of them 16.55 million are social media users – which accounts for over 80% of the country’s population. While Chile and Ghana have the same duration of time spent on social media daily, Chile outranks its counterpart based on a higher percentage of social media users in the country.
6. Columbia
Daily Time Spent on Social Media: 3 hours, 32 minutes
Columbia has over 73 million active cellular network connections, which is 141.8% of the total population. Internet penetration was recorded at 39 million in January 2023 by DataReportal in its Digital 2023: Global Overview Report. 74% of Columbia’s population are social media users.
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