Social media have never been bigger than in 2025. People are looking to stay connected wherever they go and the number of social media users is therefore still on the rise. But how we use them – and how much – greatly depends on a number of factors, including where we live.
Globally speaking, 5.24 billion people are currently using social media according to research by Backlinko. Compared to just a decade ago, when 2.07 billion people were using social media, that number has almost doubled. Translated into percentages, this means 63.9% of the global population is using social media or 86.1% of those aged 18 and older. On average, we spend 2 hours and 21 minutes per day scrolling through social media such as Facebook and Instagram.
Speaking of, Facebook appears to be the biggest social network with no less than 3.07 billion monthly active users. It is followed by YouTube (2.5 billion), WhatsApp (2 billion), Instagram (2 billion), and TikTok (1.58 billion). According to the Global Web Index, those aged 16+ use about 6.83 social media networks globally on a monthly basis. The UAE had the highest number of different social platforms with 8.62 per internet user, while Japan scored the lowest at 2.49.
Geographical location plays an important role
When looking at specific countries, the Kepios analysis from 2025 indicates that the most active country is the U.A.E. No less than 100.3% of its population is currently using social media, a number that can be explained through duplicates and fake users. In. India, however, only 33.7% of the population regardless of age uses social media, a percentage that goes up to 43.1% for those aged 18+.
According to Backlinko’s data, those living in Kenya spend the most average time per day on social media. With 4 hours and 13 minutes daily, they go well over the global average. While Brazil and the Philippines each spend an average of 3 hours and 32 minutes per day on social media, others go well below the global average. The country with the. The least number of minutes per day is Japan (46 minutes), but South Korea (1 hour and 14 minutes) and the United Kingdom (1 hour and 37 minutes) score fairly low too.
Average time spent online
Another survey, this time by Stocklytics, looked at the average time overall spent online. Here, South Africa was the first in line, with no less than 9 hours and 37 minutes as a daily average. Brazil (9 hours and 9 minutes) and the Philippines (8 hours and 52 minutes) scored high too. On the other end of the list stand Japan (4 hours and 9 minutes), Denmark (5 hours and 10 minutes), and Greece (5 hours and 21 minutes). Globally speaking, people tend to spend 6 hours and 38 minutes per day online.
