WhatsApp Statistics – All You Need to Know

WhatsApp is undoubtedly one of the most popular messaging apps. By understanding who’s using it and how businesses can strategize better.

As an internet user, it is quite unlikely that you haven’t heard the name WhatsApp ever in your life. Yes, that’s how popular WhatsApp really is.

It is a cross-platform instant messaging app created in 2009 by two ex-Yahoo employees, Brian Acton and Jan Koum. In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp. While Whatsapp was popular before this, it really took off in the months following the acquisition.

Reasons for its popularity –

1. It was one of its kind app at the time it was founded. Outside the blackberry space, it was the only free messaging app. WhatsApp created a bridge between Android and iPhone users, the two most popular smartphone operating systems.

2. It provides instant messaging with on-screen notifications.

3. It is completely ad-free.

4. WhatsApp’s user interface is quite simple and intuitive.

5. One can share files in different formats like images, videos, documents, etc.

In 2018, WhatsApp launched another app, “WhatsApp Business”, for helping smaller businesses reach out to their customers far more easily. Since then, WhatsApp business has grown into a popular business solution as well.

WhatsApp user statistics 2022

1. Number of WhatsApp Users Worldwide

As of 2021, WhatsApp has already reached over 2 billion users worldwide.

The numbers have been increasing by an average of half a billion every year. When someone gets on WhatsApp, whoever wants to message them gets there as well. And this increases the value of being on WhatsApp.

It would be suicidal for the businesses to not be on an app commanding such a huge base of smartphone users.

2. WhatsApp’s Popularity

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app out there, with around 2000 million active monthly users to the data published by Statista in October 2021. (Statista). This is a lot more than the second most popular app, which also belongs to its parent firm, Facebook Messenger (1.3 billion).

It has reached around 1 billion daily active users (Statista), which is more than any messaging app out there. Other apps like WeChat, Snapchat, etc., are at a total loss compared to WhatsApp in terms of their popularity.

It achieved such a feat even while it is banned in China, the most populous country. Before it was banned in 2017, there were around 2 million WhatsApp users in China.

A study showed that WhatsApp users texted the most, followed by sending pictures, videos, gifs, and links. Users don’t have to switch channels to send different message types. This allows businesses to make use of these features in their communication with customers.

3. WhatsApp App Downloads

In the first quarter of 2021, WhatsApp saw sharp spikes in downloads. In Malaysia, WhatsApp grew by over 22% in the number of iOS downloads, followed by Indonesia with 16.8%. While the app downloads boomed in 2020, WhatsApp saw steady growth in 2021. 2021 started great for the app company as in

Overall, WhatsApp is the most downloaded messaging app and the most downloaded app in the world.

Single-day highest download hit was recorded at over 450K app downloads in January 2021. In April 2021, WhatsApp recorded 13 million app downloads

4. Time Spent on WhatsApp

Did you know that an average user opens WhatsApp 23-25 times a day? But such a number doesn’t come as a surprise because users on average spend 38 minutes using the app daily, which comes to about 19.4 hours a month.

WhatsApp voice calls are also gaining steady popularity. On an average day, users spend a total of 2 billion minutes on WhatsApp voice and video calls.

5. WhatsApp Usage by Country

India has the most number of WhatsApp users at 487 million (Statista). The number is rising at a rate of 16.6% every year.

The second contender, Brazil, in the race is much behind at 108.4 million users.
The reason for India’s high numbers is its greater population. For Brazil, it is WhatsApp’s greater penetration working in its favor.

While Indonesia was lagging behind the USA previously, the number of WhatsApp users in the country now stands at a strong 84.8 million mark as of June 2021!

Indonesia is becoming an upcoming market to leverage automation on WhatsApp. With WhatsApp API’s chatbot integration capabilities, businesses are using conversational AI chatbots to communicate and engage with their users a lot better.

While the USA was WhatsApp’s third-largest market, it has toppled down to fourth position behind Indonesia with 79.6 million active users in June 2021.

73% of Singaporeans use WhatsApp daily. These WhatsApp statistics by country can help you devise better WhatsApp strategies for Business growth.

6. Messages Sent via WhatsApp Daily

It achieved the figure of 1 billion messages daily in October 2011. It was at 55 billion messages a day in July 2017. In May 2018, it clocked at 65 billion messages a day.

These messages include texts, images, videos, links, contacts, etc. Such wide support for different formats has been one reason for WhatsApp’s steady growth since its birth.

A study showed that WhatsApp users reply in less than a minute on average. This study also found insights into the distribution of messages per time of the day. Most users are active post noon until midnight.

7. WhatsApp Users’ Age

People of all ages are using WhatsApp.

In Germany, 97% of internet users aged between 18-29 years use WhatsApp. When they use WhatsApp, it becomes useful for their parents, grandparents, relatives, and other known ones to use WhatsApp as well.

This is one of the essential phenomena driving WhatsApp’s popularity. 93% of 30-49-year-old Germans who use the internet use WhatsApp as well. This is some insane level of usage WhatsApp has there.

In the US, 1 in every 5 US adults uses WhatsApp. As per Statista’s data published in October 2021, 9% of WhatsApp users in the US are aged between 15-25 years. The percentage stands at 27% for people aged 26-35 years for the same period. 20% of its users in the US are 36-45 year- old adults, 17% are 46-55 years, and 13% are aged above 56.

In India, 55% of WhatsApp users are 18-34 years old.

8. WhatsApp Gender Demographics

We have talked about how WhatsApp looks for different age groups, now we’ll dive deeper into gender demographics. While WhatsApp seems to be almost used equally by men and women alike, 53.9% of WhatsApp users are male. On the other hand, WhatsApp is used by 46.1% of female users.

Moreover, an exploratory study also suggests that WhatsApp’s female users are more active on the platform and use its features more extensively than its male users. This includes time spent on changing profile pictures, putting up statuses, being active in groups etc.

9. WhatsApp Business Statistics

WhatsApp came with its Business app in 2018. It is called WhatsApp Business and found great acceptance among the Business Community by 2019, it had over 5 million businesses using it. And by September 2021, the business app had 18 million downloads.

The app is available for both Android and iPhone devices. It enabled businesses to reach where their customers are. Live Chat support services have also been started on WhatsApp by various Businesses enhancing customer experience and thus engagement.

According to WhatsApp, around 175 million people send messages to WhatsApp business accounts daily. This shows how people are already responding positively to this new initiative.
They can get their queries resolved and browse through products and services being offered by a Business. WhatsApp Business Catalogue allows businesses to showcase such details.

In fact, 40 million users view a business catalog in WhatsApp every month, as per a Facebook report.

10. WhatsApp Status Usage

WhatsApp came with a new message multicast feature in 2019. People could share disappearing stories with all of their contacts. Since then it has become a popular feature with WhatsApp users.

According to Statista, around half a billion accounts were using WhatsApp statuses daily in 2019. The feature was extensively used by people sharing updates during the pandemic and sees a steady use as of 2021.

So, as a business also you can use it to share about your new services.

Sending direct messages in personal or groups regularly might look like spamming. However, statuses are very non-intrusive in that way. Only the people who choose to have a look at your status see it. That keeps everyone happy. It disappears after 24 hours, and you can then share the next updates.