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WhatsApp User Statistics 2024: How Many People Use WhatsApp?

Backlinko Team

Written by Backlinko Team

WhatsApp User Statistics: How Many People Use WhatsApp?

WhatsApp was officially launched in November 2009 as a chat app service, initially just for iOS.

In August 2010, WhatsApp released an app for Android users. It took 4 years for the messenger app to hit a milestone of 200 million monthly active users.

With growing popularity, Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion, more than 12 times higher than WhatsApp’s valuation from the previous year.

Today, WhatsApp is reported to have more than 2 billion monthly active users globally, including 100 million in the US, and is ranked as the most popular mobile messenger app in the world.

Read on to see all of the key WhatsApp statistics you need to know in 2024.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what we’ll cover:

Key Stats About WhatsApp (Top Picks)

  • WhatsApp has over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide.
  • WhatsApp has 100 million monthly active users in the US.
  • WhatsApp is ranked as the most used mobile messenger app in the world.
  • More than 596.6 million messages are sent each day on WhatsApp.
  • More than 596.6 million voice messages are sent daily on WhatsApp.
  • India has the most WhatsApp monthly active users (596.6 million as of 2024).

WhatsApp Monthly Active Users Worldwide

According to the latest company update, WhatsApp has more than 2 billion monthly active users worldwide.

WhatsApp has more than 2 billion users

WhatsApp added 1 billion new users in the past 4 years alone (2016-2020).

During the 6 years that WhatsApp has operated as a Facebook subsidiary, the messenger’s monthly active user base has increased by 365%, from 465 million in February 2014.

WhatsApp Monthly Active Users

Here’s the table of WhatsApp user growth since 2010:

Note: Meta hasn’t disclosed worldwide WhatsApp user figures since 2020.
Date WhatsApp Monthly Active Users
October 2010 10 million
December 2011 50 million
July 2012 75 million
October 2012 100 million
January 2013 133 million
March 2013 166 million
April 2013 200 million
June 2013 250 million
August 2013 300 million
October 2013 350 million
December 2013 400 million
January 2014 430 million
February 2014 465 million
April 2014 500 million
August 2014 600 million
January 2015 700 million
April 2015 800 million
September 2015 900 million
February 2016 1 billion
January 2017 1.2 billion
July 2017 1.3 billion
December 2017 1.5 billion
February 2020 2 billion

Sources: Meta, Statista, Yahoo

WhatsApp Monthly Active Users in the US

According to Will Cathcart (head of WhatsApp at Meta), WhatsApp reached 100 million monthly active users, with the majority of WhatsApp users using iPhones.

WhatsApp reached 100 million monthly active users in the US

According to Pew Research Center survey data, 29% of US adults say they use WhatsApp.

Sources: WhatsApp, CNBC, Pew Research Center

Number of WhatsApp Messages Sent Globally per Day

According to Will Cathcart (Head of WhatsApp at Meta), more than 100 billion messages are sent each day on WhatsApp.

More than 100 billion messages are sent each day on WhatsApp

In fact, the number of messages sent via WhatsApp has increased by 53.84% from 65 billion in 2018.

We’ve charted the growth of the number of messages sent daily on WhatsApp since 2011:

Date WhatsApp Messages Sent per Day
October 2011 1 billion
January 2015 30 billion
February 2016 42 billion
July 2017 55 billion
May 2018 65 billion
October 2020 100 billion

Sources: X (Twitter), Statista, VentureBeat, Fortune

Number of Voice WhatsApp Messages Sent Globally per Day

According to a company update, on average 7 billion voice messages are sent on WhatsApp every day.

Source: WhatsApp

Average Time Spent With WhatsApp

According to data.ai intelligence, WhatsApp users worldwide on the Android app spent 16 hours 32 minutes per month or 33.1 minutes per day on the app between 1 March and 31 May 2024.

Source: DataReportal

WhatsApp Demographics by Generation in the US

Gen Z and Millennials account for over half (60%) of WhatsApp monthly active user base in the US.

WhatsApp Demographics by Generation in the US

Here’s a detailed breakdown of WhatsApp monthly active users by generation in the US:

Generation Share of WhatsApp Monthly Active Users
Gen Z (1997-2012) 23.6%
Millennials (1981-1996) 36.4%
Gen X (1965-1980) 22.7%
Baby boomers (1946-1964) 12.8%
Other (Silent Generation, Gen Alpha, and younger) 4.5%

Source: eMarketer

WhatsApp Reach by Age Group in the US

WhatsApp is most popular among Americans aged between 18-34, with 31% of them having a WhatsApp account as of May 2022.

WhatsApp Reach by Age Group in the US

Here’s the complete breakdown by age group of the registered WhatsApp reach in the US:

Age Group WhatsApp Usage Among Internet Users
18-34 years 31%
35-44 years 27%
45-64 years 20%
65+ years 11%
Total 23%

Source: Statista

WhatsApp Gender Demographics

As of Q1 2024, the WhatsApp worldwide user base consisted of 47.7% female users. Another 52.2% were male.

WhatsApp worldwide user base is consisted of 47.7% female users

Source: Statista

Top 10 WhatsApp Countries Ranked by Largest Audiences

According to eMarketer data, India has more WhatsApp users than any other country, with 532.2 million monthly active users as of July 2022.

The combined user base located in the top 3 WhatsApp countries (India, Brazil, and Indonesia) reaches 750.5 million monthly active users.

Top 10 WhatsApp Countries Ranked by Largest Audiences

Here’s the table of the ten countries where WhatsApp is the most popular, ranked by the number of monthly active users:

Country WhatsApp Monthly Active Users
India 532.2 million
Brazil 124.0 million
Indonesia 94.3 million
Russia 72.0 million
Mexico 65.0 million
United States 64.3 million
Germany 53.1 million
United Kingdom 41.4 million
Italy 37.5 million
Spain 32.6 million

Source: eMarketer

WhatsApp Number of Downloads

According to Appfigures data, WhatsApp was downloaded 267 million times across the App Store and Google Play in 2024 (as of July).

WhatsApp was downloaded 267 million times in in 2024

Here’s a breakdown of WhatsApp downloads by month in 2024:

Date WhatsApp Monthly Active Users
January 2024 36 million
February 2024 37 million
March 2024 42 million
April 2024 37 million
May 2024 38 million
June 2024 39 million
July 2024 38 million

Source: Appfigures

WhatsApp Application Ratings

The WhatsApp application has over 196.1 million ratings on the Android platform, with an average rating of 4.1.

Here’s the full rating breakdown for WhatsApp on Google Play:

Rating Number of Ratings
1 star 21,172,154
2 star 7,220,385
3 star 11,586,749
4 star 20,074,252
5 star 136,061,556

On iOS, the WhatsApp mobile application has over 14.3 million ratings, with an average score of 4.7.

Here’s the full rating breakdown for WhatsApp on iOS:

Rating Number of Ratings
1 star 451,334
2 star 185,123
3 star 440,804
4 star 1,161,231
5 star 12,049,269

Sources: Sensor Tower 1, Sensor Tower 2

WhatsApp Business Number of Downloads

WhatsApp has a dedicated app for managing business profiles and staying in touch with customers.

Based on Appfigures estimates, WhatsApp Business was downloaded 152.1 million times across Google Play & iOS App Store in 2024 (as of August). The vast majority, 132.6 million downloads, came from Android users, while the remaining 19.5 million installs came from iOS users.

Source: Appfigures

WhatsApp Business Monthly Active Users

WhatsApp Business reached 200 million monthly active users in June 2023, a 4x increase from 50 million reported in July 2020.

WhatsApp Business reached 200 million monthly active users in June 2023

Source: Statista

Conclusion

That’s my list of WhatsApp statistics for 2024. The messenger app was already quite popular as an independent business and has grown significantly under Facebook, becoming the most popular mobile messaging app worldwide.

Hopefully, you found the listed facts and figures interesting. The data was collected from multiple sources to bring you the most important and recent stats in one place.