Instagram remains one of the top social media platforms of all time, and all of the stats are here to back it up.
Let’s start with the most important one first: there are currently 1.39 billion monthly active users on Instagram.
That number is expected to rise to at least 1.44 billion in 2025 according to Statista, which illustrates that Instagram isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Alright, so everyone knows Instagram is popular. Duh. Why do statistics like this matter?
Well, understanding the inner workings of Instagram and key performance data can help you have a more effective IG strategy that leads to more success for your business account.
Because Instagram is always introducing new features and functionalities, your Instagram strategy should always be growing as well.
You may even know some current Instagram statistics, but do you know how they can help you?
Stats can help you know what is already working well and where you can make some adjustments– you may even tap into some massive growth.
When you understand the latest data on Instagram, you can understand what’s going on with the average Instagram users, what type of accounts Instagram users follow and why, as well as other elements like the average engagement rate and more.
You’ll be able to then create more effective marketing campaigns based directly on analytics and data.
We’ve put together this list of vital Instagram statistics in 2024 so you can put them to good use and boost your Instagram success.
Let’s get started!
Key Instagram Statistics 2024
- There are 1.93 billion active users on Instagram every month
- The majority of content on Instagram is photos (73%)
- 45% of Instagram content is related to travel, making it a top interest for Instagram users
- 200 million users visit a minimum of one business account on a daily basis
- 46% of Instagram users have purchased a product on Instagram
- 30% of Meta’s total business revenue came from Instagram in 2020
- The IG account with the most followers is Instagram itself.
- 80% of marketers agree that influencer marketing is valuable and effective
- 80% of users on Instagram enjoy researching a product or service before making a decision
Monthly Active Instagram Accounts in 2024
As noted in the key stats above, you can see that there is a substantial amount of active Instagram users all around the world on a monthly basis.
This is one of the first Instagram stats that a marketing team or social media manager should be paying attention to if they want to create better advertising campaigns.
There are so many people within any given target audience accessing Instagram every month, clocking 1.393 billion active users on the social media platform.
Out of that number, more than half of that number is active on Instagram every. single. day.
This means that Instagram reaches so many different types of users, no matter which niche your business account is a part of, helping you better understand targeting efforts.
If you’ve had a hard time boosting your audience and reaching the right people, you may consider the option to buy Instagram followers to build up your account.
The key here is to ensure that you are buying followers that really use Instagram and that won’t plague your account with fake followers, bots, and skewed analytics.
You’ll enjoy a higher engagement rate on Instagram when you have connected followers that are a part of your target audience and actually care about your content and brand stories.
Number of Instagram Users in 2024
So, we know that Instagram has over one billion active users, which makes it one of the top three social media networks for ad campaigns and directly connecting with your audience.
This can establish your online presence, build your reputation, and create a relationship with potential clients and customers.
With this potential comes quite a bit of competition; that is true of all major social media platforms these days.
On Instagram, that means businesses and marketers should approach their Instagram campaigns with creativity, innovation, and a unique brand image.
Think of it this way: How will you use Instagram to stand out from the crowd and offer something that competitors are not?
Instagram stats in 2024 reveal that there is a high volume of not only Instagram users but also business accounts that are fighting for their attention.
United States Instagram Demographics & User Statistics in 2024
If you’re seeking to target Instagram users in the United States, you should focus on Instagram statistics for IG user demographics, usage, and trends.
The top age group of US Instagram users is 18-26 based on demographic data, composing 67% of all users on the social media platform.
Elderly folk in the US tend to shy away from Instagram, with only 8% of total users comprised of those over 65.
Gender across Instagram, as well as other social media platforms, is pretty neck and neck. Females edge out male users on Instagram, holding 52% of the audience base compared to males’ 48%.
Out of all Instagram users, 159.55 million are located in the US (Statista, 2024) and 37% of that number is adults.
Thus, your takeaway here is that roughly 43 million adults are active on Instagram in the US and potentially waiting to become your client.
On the other hand, 32% of teens agree that Instagram is the most important social network, and 72% of total Instagram users are teens, making it the most saturated age group.
As far as shopping goes, only 11% of people active on IG in the US shop on the platform, which means that there is still room to grow with this feature through shopping posts (more on that later).
Non-US Instagram Demographics & Statistics in 2024
Perhaps you’re not just limiting yourself to reaching Instagram users in the US, but on a global scale. If so, this section is for you.
89% of all Instagram users are based outside of the US, which is good news if you’re looking for a broader audience.
While the US has the second-most Instagram users of countries worldwide, it’s edged out by India, clocking in with the most Instagram users: 230.25 million!
After India and the US, we complete our top 5 with:
- Brazil (119.5 million)
- Indonesia (99.15 million)
- Russia (63 million)
These numbers have consistently increased from 2021 to 2024, which shows that Instagram is still one of the social platforms that continues to grow.
Why is this important?
Facebook has reported a downturn in their active users, which is something that business accounts and those interested in social media marketing should know.
So, which country has the most active Instagram users in terms of those registered?
Brunei!
60% of all registered users are active on the platform, which is quite impressive, even if you’ve got to check Google maps to see where exactly it’s located.
Understanding where your users are based and how they use the platform (and even other platforms) is vital if you want to create content that appeals to each segment of your market.
Time Spent on Instagram in 2024
Brands and business accounts are using Instagram more than ever to connect with followers, leads, and clients; one of the reasons is because Instagram users spend a good amount of time on the social network.
An Instagram user under 25 years old averages about 32 minutes on the platform daily; older users spend roughly 8 minutes less at 24 minutes every day.
Why does this matter?
Well, understanding when your target audience is online and when Instagram users engage with your content can help you to create a fruitful content schedule.
Knowing when your target audience is online will get you more engagement on your Instagram posts right out of the gate, increasing your reach and brand awareness regularly through the Instagram algorithm.
In addition, you need to create captivating image posts that catch the eye of someone scrolling, enticing them to stop and check out your content.
Over 100 million photos and videos are uploaded to Instagram every day, so you’re not alone in seeking an Instagram user’s attention. Make each post with a strong intention and call to action, as well as scroll-stopping visuals.
How does time spent on Instagram compare to other social networks?
Facebook users average about 34 minutes daily, Snapchat users clock about 30 min a day, and TikTok reigns supreme with 52 minutes spent by users on the platform.
Instagram takes the fourth spot behind these three networks with an average of just under 30 minutes.
Instagram Engagement Statistics in 2024
Users on Instagram are pretty engaged on the whole, and they actually enjoy interacting with brands and businesses on the platform (more on that in the following section).
How do we know?
200 million Instagram users visit a minimum of 1 business profile every day.
The overall engagement rate on Instagram is 1.6%, showing that there is a decent organic reach for Instagram business accounts through engagement.
Wait. What? Isn’t 1.6% a really small number?
Well, at first glance, it may look tiny, but considering the huge volume of users and profiles, it’s actually pretty substantial.
Now that you know there’s a good chance some of a billion users on IG will engage with your content, make sure that you give yourself the best opportunity possible with engaging content.
For instance, video posts have shown to boost engagement by 38% over a typical Instagram post with a still image.
What’s more, if you’re seeking engagement, carousel posts are the best option, especially when they combine a mix of photos and videos to tell your story.
Here are some stats about content usage on Instagram:
- 73.5% photo content
- 13.7% video content
- 12.7% carousel content
While there is a range of content formats available on Instagram, they aren’t broken down here as they fit into one of the above categories (example: IG stories, reels, etc.)
Top user interests for content on Instagram are:
- Travel — 45%
- Music — 44%
- Food and drink — 43%
- Fashion — 42%
These are pretty close in terms of interest levels, so incorporating those topics can help your content perform better.
Also, be sure to adhere to a posting schedule that gets your posts out when most of your target audience is online and active.
On the whole, the best posting times for Instagram engagement have been observed as Wednesday and Friday in the late morning. Wednesday is considered the top day for engagement and activity overall.
Of course, you’ll need to track your own profile’s Instagram engagement rates and understand which type of content is performing best for you / when your audience is online; after all, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for higher engagement.
Understanding your analytics and then creating a strategy is the best way to capture Instagram’s audience and build your account up.
Instagram Business Profile Statistics
Instagram began as a pretty straightforward photo sharing app for friends and family. Who would have thought that a decade later it would transform into an authority for ad campaigns, influencer marketing, and ecommerce.
Currently, there are more than 200 million business profiles on Instagram. We said there was competition, right?
True. But business profiles only make up a fraction of the overall IG user base, so you still have more chances to connect with relevant users.
Even though there is still a community-based vibe on Instagram, with many people following friends, family, celebs, causes, and more, IG users love to follow businesses, too.
In fact, almost all of IG’s user base, 95%, follow at least one business account.
Because Instagram’s audience is somewhat enthusiastic about interacting with brands and businesses on Instagram, it’s important to use Instagram as a tool to connect with your audience and expand your business where possible.
When you’re able to solidify your reputation, especially new brands, you can take off and use the platform for sales, business growth, monetization, and trust building.
Due to high demand, there are many different tools that Instagram offers to business profiles, including:
- Sponsored posts and Instagram Ads
- Shoppable content (posts, stories)
- Optimized profile page with call to action buttons
- Instagram analytics
These tools will help you to track your performance, optimize your campaign, and drive tangible results from your IG efforts.
Instagram Marketing Statistics
As you probably know from browsing Instagram yourself, advertising and marketing on IG is a huge industry. Currently, there are more than 2 million advertisers on Instagram, and that brings in a huge amount of global net ad revenues for Meta.
The ad reach on IG is a potential 849.3 million IG users, almost its whole user base. That is incredibly substantial.
Based on this high potential, many advertisers take to the platform, with Instagram bringing in about 30% of the total ad revenue for Facebook and Meta.
Remember, because Instagram falls under Meta’s umbrella, FB and IG ads are linked and profits will go to the same company.
According to these Instagram advertising statistics, you can certainly use IG to reach potential customers, build leads, and find those who are likely to be interested in your products and/or services for purchase on the platform.
The cost of Instagram ads is as low or high as you tailor it to be since you can customize your campaigns and determine what you’re willing to spend.
It’s safe to say that IG ads aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, so if you haven’t already, try a few out and see how it goes.
Instagram eCommerce Statistics
As discussed above, the average engagement rate on Instagram is 1.6% with videos clocking more engagement. That’s great, but did you also know based on Instagram user statistics that interactive content is increasingly more popular?
Take Instagram shoppable posts. Studies show that Instagram shoppable posts are used by more than 130 million people every month, and that 44% shopping enthusiasts turn to IG to shop every week!
This is a huge increase from previous years, which means that the implementation of shoppable features has gained a strong popularity.
In fact, other statistics have shone light on user behavior in terms of shopping and how they use Instagram:
- 29% talked about a brand with someone after seeing it on IG
- 31% follow the brand’s Instagram account and/or other social media channels
- 37% visit a physical retail store
- 46% buy either online or in store
- 65% visit the brand’s website or app
- 79% see a product on Instagram and then search for more information
There’s no doubt based on these stats that shoppable posts combined with different post types will bring you extremely effective results on Instagram and generate more interest in your brand.
Using calls to action and promotional posts can take those results even further.
Currently, Instagram shopping is only available for physical products, not for services, and you must have a linked Facebook store in order to tag products in your posts.
You can go back and tag previous posts with new products as well.
Shoppable functions have already been expanded to Instagram stories ads, but in the future it’s likely we may see these features in DMs, Reels, and more.
Instagram is a great place for fashion brands especially, with almost all big names already taking advantage of the features on a regular basis.
Influencer Marketing Statistics
Many people use Instagram to generate income through influencer marketing, and this hasn’t slowed down. You may even say that the social media influencer was born on Instagram, and they’ve certainly thrived.
Brand partnerships and ambassador positions have helped IG influencers to monetize the platform as well as harness the power of their audience for the benefit of the brand.
Influencer marketing is one of the most popular methods of advertising on Instagram, and 55% of marketers plan to expand their strategy to include it, taking the place of other channels / platforms.
A standout 80% of marketers believe that influencer marketing is effective, with 35% considering it very effective. 45% would at least agree that it’s somewhat effective.
Ready to tap into your target audience and boost your average engagement rate with influencer marketing? Consider a few things first.
Metrics are important when working with influencers, but not just their follower count– arguably, engagement rate is even more important.
Influencers with more followers probably work with brands from multiple distinct industries. Smaller influencers, such as micro influencers or nano influencers, are likely to stick to a particular niche, which can be extremely beneficial: they tend to have very engaged followings.
The most-followed influencers are females in their mid-twenties, and they enjoy a quarter of all Instagram influencer followers.
There are influencers for just about any niche imaginable:
- 3.6 million influencers, niche: hobbies and activities
- 3 million influencers, niche: business and industry
- 2.7 million influencers, niche: music and art
The majority of influencers earning $1+ million are based in the US, with the top earners being:
- Kylie Jenner, $1.3 million
- Ariana Grande, $996k
- Cristiano Ronaldo, $975k
- Kim Kardashian, $910k
- Selena Gomez $886k
Okay. These are household names and clearly mega celebs. What about the everyday influencer?
The standard cost for an IG influencer ranges from $100-$2085 per post. Marketers should look to make roughly $5.25 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing (ROI).
Some marketing budgets allow up to 69% for influencer marketing.
The key to success with influencer marketing is to work with the ones that have the most engagement in your niche. You’ll need to ensure that their engagement rates are good so that the influencer can generate interest in your brand.
This, in turn, brings ROI.
Otherwise, the partnership is pointless.
User Behavior and Intent on Instagram
If you want to see success on Instagram, it’s vital that you understand how people use Instagram and what their typical behaviors are.
For example, are people focused mostly on mobile use, or are they using the platform via desktop?
This is an easy one, though– Instagram is designed for mobile, so most people are accessing via the app.
Other behaviors, however, aren’t as cut and dry.
Here are some of the main reasons people use Instagram in relation to business:
- 84% of users discover new products
- 81% of users look to the platform to decide whether or not to buy from a brand or business
- 80% enjoy researching different products and services on IG
This is really important because people will look on Instagram to see if you have a presence there. If you do, great! Even if you’re just starting out, at least they will find something.
If you don’t appear at all, you’re likely to be viewed by less credible, perhaps not by all billion users, but by some, no doubt.
As a marketer, know why your users are on the platform: engage them through Instagram stories and do A/B content tests to see which type is meeting the needs of your followers.
Instagram Stories Statistics
Even with the launch of Instagram reels, Instagram stories is arguably still the most popular feature on the social network.
IG stories emerged as a way to defeat the competition in Snapchat, a rival social media platform that offered new functionalities in terms of sending photos and videos to friends that disappear after only 24 hours.
It was a smart move and brought many new social media users to IG as well as changing how people use and interact with Instagram.
Not long after the release of the feature, businesses and marketers were able to see just how many people could be reached on stories– after all, 500 million of the 1 billion IG users are active on the feature every single day!
That’s huge for Instagram business accounts. With the implementation of Instagram shopping features on IG stories, there’s even more potential than ever to drive profits and marketing efforts.
In terms of competition, brands post roughly 2.5 million Instagram stories on a weekly basis. With so many accounts using the feature, it’s not to be ignored or underestimated!
Instagram stories should be a key part of your content strategy and used on a regular basis to add to your brand’s IG campaigns and online aesthetic.
Stories can help you in many ways, including:
- Boosting purchase intent
- Generating message association
- Improving ad recall
- Raising CTR (click-through rate)
You can even generate more engagement from followers or do market research by using interactive stickers, such as polls, questions, quizzes, and more. Be in the know about what your followers prefer or don’t prefer!
Static images are great, but IG stories can take your content offerings to the next level.
Most Followed Instagram Accounts
Before we reach the end of our Instagram stats and jump over to some fun facts about how to put them to good use, let’s check out the most popular accounts on the IG platform.
It’s a good idea to know which accounts are doing really well so you can continuously review them, analyze their content strategy, for a better idea of how they approach social media and why they’re successful.
Granted, many of these are super ultra mega celebrities; even still, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn something from their likely high-paid, professional social media management team.
The most followed page on Instagram is Instagram itself! They’ve got over 529 million followers now, up from what was 385 million in 2021. They’ve continued to grow in popularity just as the platform has.
After Instagram, the next brand account with the most followers is National Geographic (@natgeo) with 230 million followers. They are closely followed by Nike (@nike).
The list of brands continues with football clubs Real Madrid (121 million), FC Barcelona (110 million), and Champions League (95.2 million), then comes NASA (78.3 million) and Victoria’s Secret with 72.9 million.
Year over year, all of these accounts have seen quite substantial Instagram follower increases, which shows that the platform is still growing after all these years and that users remain active.
Personal and public figure accounts fit in between these brands, and the most popular Instagram account aside from Instagram belongs to soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo clocking 459 million followers.
Kylie Jenner comes next with 353 million followers, and the list of heavy-hitting superstars goes on and on.
The record holder for the quickest Instagram account growth ever goes to Jennifer Aniston– after only 5 hours of her account being noticed by fans, her follower count surpassed 1 million. Wow!
How to Make Use of Instagram Statistics
Alright, we’ve got some of the most important Instagram statistics under our belt– how do we use them?
You can implement this newfound knowledge to boost your marketing plans, create better content, set measurable goals, and much more.
To round out our post, we’ll leave you with 3 in-depth action items that can help you take your Instagram growth to the next level.
1. Identify Your Goals
Before moving forward with any strategy, it’s important to set your goals and decide how you’ll measure your success.
Do you want to buy Instagram followers? Boost engagement? Increase brand awareness? Get more clicks on your shopping posts?
Once you can answer that question, you can then move forward with content planning, audience targeting, and more.
More Instagram Followers
If you want to grow your Instagram follower count, the most important Instagram stats are going to be those related to user behavior and demographics.
You can then define your audience and how they use the platform, tailoring your content to their exact needs, wants, and pan points.
Using Instagram stories to do market research is an excellent tool to find out what people like, what they like to see, and how you can put that into content form.
High-quality content with a uniform brand aesthetic is going to be vital for follower growth, and to move things along, you could consider using a standout Instagram growth service to help.
A service like this will be able to focus on building your numbers while you work on content, helping your follower growth in the long term.
More Instagram Engagement
Instagram engagement is also directly tied to content creation, but also involves captioning and call to actions. Let’s break it down.
For better engagement, always stick to a strategic posting schedule that will get your content live when a good portion of your target audience is online.
That way, they can see your content right out of the gate and begin liking and commenting, boosting your overall engagement as the post life continues.
After all, IG users are more likely to engage with posts when they have comments. Would you like a post with 3 likes, or one with 3,000?
Calls to action (CTAs) are also vital if you want engagement. After a user sees your post, what do you want them to do?
Should they call you? Like your post? Leave a comment? Tag a friend? Visit your store? Share it? So many options.
Even if you think it’s clear, tell them what to do in your caption! Be creative and have fun with engaging your followers.
Last but not least, don’t underestimate the power of user-generated content (UGC). UGC is when users post photos, stories, reels, etc. that feature your product or brand.
You can then repost this content, not only helping you with content creation, but also boosting engagement– UGC is known to have higher levels of engagement alongside that of Instagram videos and carousel posts.
It’s fun because it helps to build community, inspire others to tag and mention you, develops a relationship and realness between you and your audience, and drives engagement!
Instagram Marketing
If you’re looking to increase your Instagram marketing campaign success, check out Instagram statistics related to influencer marketing, IG ads, and other sales-based numbers.
Both can help you to understand the trends on the platform and what people are doing on Instagram.
When creating ads or marketing campaigns, always ensure that your content includes CTAs and that it aligns with your brand image.
Instagram Shopping
Because Instagram shopping has been on the rise for a few years now, it’s a good idea to view insights and statistics on how those numbers are moving.
More and more people are shopping on Instagram every day, so even if you aren’t running a boosted post, you can still include shopping tags in your everyday content.
Again, CTAs are vital if you want your followers to know that your post is shoppable.
Don’t forget to play around with shoppable posts in Instagram stories! This feature is relatively new so if you haven’t already, get started on it.
2. Look at Your Niche
The next thing you should do once you’ve set down some of your goals is to look into Instagram statistics about your niche in particular, when possible.
You can check out different facts or data about your niche, as well as even check out your own Instagram insights to get an understanding of:
- when your followers are online
- what their demographic is
- where they’re located
- how they use Instagram
These are just a few things you can gain insight on when you track numbers directly related to your niche and audience.
Another way you can effectively do this is to check out follower count, content style, and engagement rates for competitor accounts. There are different competitor analysis tools out there from 3rd parties, or you can manually track it.
3. Follow Instagram Strategies and Best Practices
Instagram doesn’t exist in a bubble, so many different factors will affect your ultimate success on the platform.
The Instagram statistics we’ve analyzed above indicate that so many IG users are excited and currently engaging with brands and businesses on the platform, so knowing that, create a strategy that gives you a competitive edge.
The following 4 subsections will help you to figure out where to start in making your Instagram the best it can be.
Optimize Your Bio
Your Instagram bio is the first thing a user will see when they land on your Instagram profile, which is why the whole vibe should let them know who you are and what your brand/business is about.
Make sure that you have a solid profile picture that fits within the round frame and that people can identify your brand/business by.
Even if you’re an influencer, make it clear who you are and show your personality. It’s also a good idea to keep your image the same across all social channels.
Also, your bio section should give a good 150-character snapshot of who you are. It’s your chance to shine here!
If you need inspiration, check out other similar accounts in your niche and craft something that rings true for you.
You’ll also need to include a link in bio (either a single link or a directory) so that you can funnel traffic to any relevant external site(s).
Clearly post your contact information and even add a call to action button when relevant so that people can get in contact as easily as possible.
Last but certainly not least, make sure that the overall aesthetic of your Instagram profile is on brand, the posts in your grid look striking, and that it makes people want to hang around for a bit longer to browse.
Instagram story highlight album covers can help you do that; you’ll be able to re-share and pin content from your stories that users may want to see, and it will also boost your aesthetic when the album cover looks good.
Hashtags can help you get more reach for your content. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags on a post, but many studies agree that using between 7-11 is the best way to go.
The same study also mentioned that hashtags are better used when they’re more targeted and relevant to your niche. Avoid general hashtags like #love, #beauty, #fun, and things like that.
You can place hashtags throughout your caption, at the end of your caption, or even in the first comment of your Instagram post.
Create Varied Content
There are tons of different content formats for Instagram these days, and there is no shortage of creativity coming from brands and businesses on how to use them.
Set up a mood board for yourself, find some of the top accounts you’d like to model content from, and come up with your own ideas for a wide variation of content that attracts many.
In the past decade, Instagram has expanded what the platform offers in many different ways. They started with just a single photo sharing application and now offer one of the biggest marketing and content sharing platforms on the planet.
You should aim to have a range of content on your profile, including:
- Instagram in-feed photos and videos
- Carousel posts
- Live videos (IG Live)
- Reels
- IGTV
- Instagram Stories
You can also use boomerangs, GIFs, and design tools such as Canva to spice up your feed and present eye-catching content that will stop anyone from scrolling past.
Don’t forget to offer different topics of content as well, including things like interviews, product spotlights, BTS, how-tos, takeovers, quotes or wisdom, and much more! The sky’s the limit when it comes to creativity on Instagram.
Active Captioning
As we mentioned briefly above in multiple sections, the words you use in your captions can make all the difference.
Even though Instagram is a visual platform, your captioning can be the final piece to the puzzle, motivating users to check out, connect with your brand, buy from your business, and more.
Tell a story with your captions. Give some background information or history. Keep it short, sweet, and fun. There are so many options, and using a range of captions throughout your posts can make for a great approach.
That said, there’s one thing you should never leave out– a call to action (CTA)! CTAs are vital if you want your followers and viewers to engage.
You can also get more reach through using geotags, hashtags, as well as tagging/mentioning other brands and users.
Final Thoughts on Instagram Statistics
Although Facebook beats out Instagram in terms of user count, there is so much value that users find on Instagram, and it’s continued to grow.
Even the most popular Instagram accounts that already boasted hundreds of millions of followers have found themselves with substantial increases, so now is the time to join in on the fun.
The Instagram statistics mentioned in this post can help you to calibrate your strategy, understand your target audience, and gain a new perspective on how users interact with the Instagram platform.
No matter if you’re in the US, western Europe, Asia, or any other place in this wide world, you can make good use of these IG stats and take your profile to the next level.
Not only that, knowing the current Instagram statistics can help you predict what the future trends will be on the platform, keeping you ahead of the curve!
