Facebook Messenger Stats and Trends
Essential Facebook Messenger stats for 2021
Advertisers could reach 1.089 billion users on Facebook Messenger in October 2021,(a) placing it 5th in our ranking of the world’s most ‘active’ social media platforms.(b)
What’s more, data published in the company’s self-service advertising tools shows that Facebook Messenger’s active users have grown steadily over the past three months.(a)
The total number of users that marketers can reach with ads on Facebook Messenger increased by roughly 19 million (+1.8%) in the three months leading up to October 2021.(a)
These latest figures indicate that roughly 13.8% of all the people on Earth use Facebook Messenger today.(c)
However, because the company limits use of its platform to people aged 13 and above, Facebook Messenger’s ‘eligible’ use rate will likely be even higher than these figures suggest.(b)
Digging deeper
Want the full story? Scroll down to find all the latest data, insights, and trends you need to understand Facebook Messenger use all over the world, including:
The number of Facebook Messenger users around the world
How quickly Facebook Messenger is growing
Facebook Messenger’s top countries
Facebook Messenger users by world region
Facebook Messenger’s audience demographics
Towards the bottom of this page, you’ll also find a complete report on Facebook Messenger’s audience around the world.
You can also learn how Facebook Messenger compares to other social media platforms on our social media overview page.
Important notes
Unless stated otherwise, all figures are based on Kepios analysis of data sourced directly from Facebook’s own tools, resources, and company statements. You’ll find details of individual data sources listed at the bottom of this article.
We update this page on a regular basis, so if you’d like to link to a specific figure (which may change in future updates), you might prefer to link to one of our individual Global Digital Reports instead.
How many Facebook Messenger users are there in 2021?
Facebook Messenger is one of the world’s top social platforms, but just how many people use Facebook Messenger today?
Based on its global advertising audience reach numbers, Facebook Messenger has at least 1.089 billion users around the world in October 2021.(a)
This figure suggests that 17.7% of all people aged 13 and above around the world use Facebook Messenger today.(c)
However, if we remove the people in this age group who live in China – where Facebook Messenger is still blocked – the platform’s eligible adoption rate increases to 22.1%.(c)
Note: The figures shown above are based on Facebook Messenger’s advertising audience only, and may not be representative of the platform’s total active user base.
How fast is Facebook Messenger growing in 2021?
Recent data published in the company’s self-service advertising tools show that Facebook Messenger’s advertising audience reach grew by 1.8% over the past 3 months.(a)
To put that figure in perspective, advertisers can now reach 19 million more users on Facebook Messenger than they could this time three months ago.(a)
These numbers indicate that Facebook Messenger’s advertising reach has grown more quickly than Facebook’s advertising reach has grown over the past 3 months.(b)
For comparison, Facebook’s data show that the global advertising reach of its flagship platform increased by 1.1% (+25 million users) in the 3 months leading up to October 2021.(d)
Note: The figures shown above are based on each platform’s advertising audience only, and may not be representative of respective active user bases.
Which countries have the most Facebook Messenger users in 2021?
Based on the advertising audience reach numbers published in Facebook Messenger’s self-service tools in October 2021,(a) the latest data show that:
- India has at least 138 million active Facebook Messenger users
- Brazil has at least 74 million active Facebook Messenger users
- Mexico has at least 69 million active Facebook Messenger users
- Vietnam has at least 58 million active Facebook Messenger users
- The Philippines has at least 54 million active Facebook Messenger users
- Thailand has at least 39 million active Facebook Messenger users
- Egypt has at least 37 million active Facebook Messenger users
- Bangladesh has at least 32 million active Facebook Messenger users
- Indonesia has at least 31 million active Facebook Messenger users
- The United Kingdom has at least 30 million active Facebook Messenger users
Note: the figures shown above are based on Facebook Messenger’s potential advertising reach, and may not correlate with the platform’s total number of monthly active users.
How many users does Facebook Messenger have in each world region in 2021?
The figures below are based on Facebook Messenger’s advertising audience data for October 2021.(a)
Note: our regions follow the United Nations Geoscheme. Click here to learn which countries belong to each region.
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Northern America: 7.5 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Central America: 86.8 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in the Caribbean: 9.0 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Southern America: 159.4 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Western Europe: 32.4 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Northern Europe: 48.8 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Southern Europe: 49.5 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Eastern Europe: 55.9 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Northern Africa: 72.6 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Western Africa: 11.9 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Middle Africa: 3.1 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Eastern Africa: 9.9 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Southern Africa: 6.1 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Western Asia: 72.3 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Central Asia: 1.9 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Southern Asia: 203.0 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Southeastern Asia: 224.7 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Eastern Asia: 29.7 million
Number of active Facebook Messenger users in Oceania: 4.8 million
Note: the figures shown above are based on Facebook Messenger’s potential advertising reach, and may not correlate with the platform’s total number of monthly active users. Rounding in source data may mean that individual figures do not correlate with totals.
What do Facebook Messenger’s audience demographics look like in 2021?
Based on Facebook Messenger’s advertising audience data* for October 2021:(a)
44.3% of Facebook Messenger’s global users are female
55.7% of Facebook Messenger’s global users are male
Want to know what Facebook Messenger demographics look like in your country? Check out our complete free report library.
*Notes: the figures above are based on Facebook Messenger’s potential advertising reach data, and may not correlate with the number of monthly active users. Facebook Messenger’s self-service advertising tools only report gender data for ‘female’ and ‘male’.
What’s the average age of Facebook Messenger’s users in 2021?
Facebook Messenger’s tools don’t offer a detailed breakdown of the platform’s advertising audience for all ages, so there’s no easy way to calculate the average age of Facebook Messenger’s active user base.
However, based on the latest available data, users aged 25 to 34 account for the largest share of Facebook Messenger’s advertising audience.(a)
How many users does Facebook Messenger have in each age group in 2021?
Data published in the platform’s self-service advertising tools in October 2021 indicated that marketers could reach the following worldwide audiences using ads on Facebook Messenger:(a)
59.2 million users aged 13 to 17 (5.5% of Facebook Messenger’s total ad audience)
258.9 million users aged 18 to 24 (23.9% of Facebook Messenger’s total ad audience)
353.1 million users aged 25 to 34 (32.6% of Facebook Messenger’s total ad audience)
198.3 million users aged 35 to 44 (18.3% of Facebook Messenger’s total ad audience)
113.1 million users aged 45 to 54 (10.4% of Facebook Messenger’s total ad audience)
62.6 million users aged 55 to 64 (5.8% of Facebook Messenger’s total ad audience)
37.6 million users aged 65 and above (3.5% of Facebook Messenger’s total ad audience)
Want to know more about the age profile of Facebook Messenger users in your country? Check out our free country report library.
Notes: the figures shown above are based on Facebook Messenger’s potential advertising reach, and may not correlate with the platform’s total number of monthly active users. Rounding in source data may mean that individual figures do not correlate with totals. In particular, the share figures for each age group shown above may not equate to the sum of each gender’s share shown in the image below.
Complete Facebook Messenger Audience Report
The embed below contains our latest in-depth report exploring Facebook Messenger’s advertising audience around the world (click here if the embed isn’t showing or working properly).
This report contains global headlines, benchmarks, and overviews, as well as local data for all the countries and territories around the world for which Facebook’s self-service advertising tools currently publish advertising audience data.
How does Facebook Messenger compare with other platforms?
Want to compare these findings with similar data for other social media platforms?
Check out our data and trends for other top platforms via these links:
Data sources for stats on this page
(a) Kepios analysis of data published in Facebook’s advertising tools in October 2021.
(b) Kepios analysis (October 2021).
(c) Kepios analysis of data published in Facebook’s advertising tools in October 2021, compared with the latest population data published by the United Nations and the U.S. Census Bureau.
(d) Kepios analysis of data published in Facebook’s advertising tools in October 2021.
Any other data sources have been attributed directly within the article, next to the appropriate data point.
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