The Ultimate List of Instagram Stats [2021]

With more than 1 billion active monthly users, brands are quickly recognizing the need to have a presence on Instagram.

But, as with any social network, the brands that are getting the most out of Instagram are the ones who are smart about what they post, when they post, how often they post, and whom they’re targeting.

But how do they know what’s a “smart” post for their business?

That’s where the Instagram data comes in. There’s a whole lot of research out there about Instagram — everything from the demographics of its users and how often brands are posting, to how negative space affects the performance of your posts (hint, hint: #26).

Read on to uncover more social media stats that’ll help you get ideas and improve your own Instagram posting strategy.

43 Instagram Stats

Click on a category below to jump to the stats for that category:

1. Instagram’s Growth
2. Audience & Demographics
3. Brand Adoption
4. Instagram Post Content
5. Instagram Posting Strategy

Instagram’s Growth

1. As of May 2021, there are over 1 billion Instagram monthly active users worldwide. (Source)

2. As of 2020, there’s an estimated 107 million Instagram users in the U.S. alone — which is predicted to grow to almost 126 million by 2023.(Source)

3. As of February 2021, 40% of U.S. adults say they’ve used Instagram. This is a larger percentage than use Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The only two social media apps more popular than Instagram are Facebook and YouTube. (Source)

4. Instagram generated $20 billion in ad revenue in 2019. In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for one billion. (Source)

5. Instagram experienced a nearly 14% jump between 2019 and 2020 in its users’ time spent on the app, to an average of 30 minutes per day. This was higher engagement growth than all other social platforms. (Source)

6. Other than Instagram’s own account, the most-followed Instagram account as of February 2021 is run by professional soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, followed by celebrities Ariana Grande, Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, and Kylie Jenner. (Source)

Audience & Demographics

7. 71% of U.S. adults between 18-29 use Instagram, compared to 70% on Facebook and 30% on LinkedIn. (Source)

8. 47% of U.S. Instagram users make more than 75,000 per year.(Source)

9. As of October 2020, 510 million Instagram users are female, and 490 million are male. (Source)

10. 72% of teens use Instagram, and 57 million U.S. teenagers say Instagram is their preferred social media platform. (Source)

11. 500 million+ accounts use Instagram Stories every day. (Source)

12. 35% of music listeners in the U.S. who follow artists on Facebook and Instagram do so to connect with other fans or feel like part of a community. (Source)

13. The average Instagram user spends 30 minutes a day on the app.(Source)

14. 45% of Instagram users live in urban areas. (Source)

15. As of January 2021, the countries with the most Instagram users are the U.S. (140 million), India (140 million), and Brazil (99 million). (Source)

Brand Adoption

16. 70% of shopping enthusiasts turn to Instagram for product discovery. (Source)

17. 69% of US marketers plan to spend most of their influencer budget on Instagram. (Source)

18. 90% of people on Instagram follow at least one business. (Source)

19. 50% are more interested in a brand when they see ads for it on Instagram. (Source)

20. In a 2021 report, the higher education industry currently has the highest engagement rate of any other industry per post on Instagram, at 3.19%. Second was sports teams at 1.79%, and third was influencers at 1.42%. (Source)

21. 67% of users surveyed have ‘swiped up’ on the links of branded Stories. (Source)

22. 130 million Instagram accounts tap on a shopping post to learn more about products every month. (Source)

Instagram Post Content

23. 995 photos are uploaded on Instagram every second. (Source)

24. The median posting cadence across all industries is 4 posts per week. The median posting frequency declined by just 8% this year compared to last. (Source)

25. On Instagram, photos showing faces get 38% more Likes than photos not showing faces. (Source)

26. On Instagram, images with a high amount of negative space generate 29% more Likes than those with minimal negative space. (Source)

27. On Instagram, images featuring blue as the dominant color generate 24% more Likes than images that are predominantly red. (Source)

28. This is so much so that the latest Instagram statistics show that an average Instagram post contains as many as 10.7 hashtags. (Source)

29. Image posts received 27.55% more likes than permanent video posts. (Source)

30. An average image on Instagram gets 23% more engagement than one published on Facebook. (Source)

31. The most geo-tagged city in the world is Los Angeles, California and the tagged location with the highest engagement is Coachella, California. (Source)

Instagram Posting Strategy

32. The best time to post on Instagram is Thursday between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. in your respective time zone. (Source)

33. Posts with a tagged location result in 79% higher engagement than posts without a tagged location. (Source)

34. 20% of users surveyed post to Instagram Stories on their business account more than once a week. (Source)

35. 44% of users surveyed use Instagram Stories to promote products or services. (Source)

36. One-third of the most viewed Stories come from businesses. (Source)

37. More than 25 million businesses now use Instagram to reach and engage with audiences. (Source)

38. 69% of US marketers plan to spend most of their influencer budget on Instagram. (Source)

39. In April 2020, the number of Instagram influencers cooperating with brands who used #ad decreased by 30% compared to April 2019, and it was the lowest total since August 2019. (Source)

40. The industry that had the highest cooperation efficiency with Instagram influencers was Health Care, where influencer posts were 4.2x more efficient than brand posts. (Source)

41. Micro influencers – those with less than 100,000 followers – made up an average of 93% of all brand cooperations in 2020. (Source)

42. 46% of B2B content marketers used Instagram as an organic play in 2020. (Source)

43. Instagram is now the most popular social platform for following brands. (Source)