How Many WhatsApp Users Are There?
If you’re not visiting from another planet, chances are you have WhatsApp installed on your mobile phone. It’s the most popular global mobile messenger app worldwide and the third most popular social media network, following Facebook and YouTube.
Before we dive into facts and figures, let me tell you the wild story of how WhatsApp came to be.
History of WhatsApp
The origins of WhatsApp are not the usual startup scenario involving students dropping out of college to develop their idea, build a product and get pre-seed funding from giants like Google and Facebook. The founders of WhatsApp were already in their thirties and had well-paid jobs with a renowned company.
Source: Inc.
In the early months of 2009, Jan Koum and Brian Acton conceptualized and developed a status update application (hence the name WhatsApp). In the beginning, that was all the app was meant to do - let users update their whereabouts and ping each of their friends with statuses like - “Having a coffee” or “Can’t talk, I’m in a meeting.”
Soon, users started having fun with the app and began chatting with each other through statuses. Someone would post “How are you, @Jim?” and Jim would answer by changing his status. This led to an update of the application which transformed it into the Instant Messaging Application billions of people love to use today.
Facebook, realizing the potential of the app, acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for a staggering $24 billion and later introduced the WhatsApp Business application which lets brands build their business profiles and integrate the WhatsApp Business API with their product offering. This enabled businesses to interact with their customers and sell products and services through customer communication platforms such as Rasayel. If you don’t know how WhatsApp Business API works, I’d suggest you read this article first.
The key WhatsApp statistics in 2022
- Over two billion users worldwide
- Around 100 billion WhatsApp messages and over 100 million voice calls daily
- 53.9% of WhatsApp users are male
- 30% of WhatsApp users are aged between 30 and 49
- 33% of WhatsApp users are college graduates
- WhatsApp is used in 180+ countries
- India is the app’s largest market
- WhatsApp is downloaded over 5 billion times on Android and iOS
- 22% of users are on iOS and 73% are on Android
- In 2021, WhatsApp generated $8.7 billion in revenue, almost all from the WhatsApp for Business app
Sources: Backlinko, Statista, Bloggingwizard
Monthly active WhatsApp users
Statistics from 2021 show that since WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014, the active user base of the app has increased by 365%, from 465 million to 2 billion monthly active users.
The average user on an Android device spends about 38 minutes on WhatsApp every day. Between the start of the pandemic and March 2020 WhatsApp recorded a spike of 40% increase in time spent on the app.
Growth of the number of messages sent daily
The growth of WhatsApp over the years is reflected in the number of daily messages sent via the app.
- October 2011 - 1 billion
- January 2015 - 30 billion
- February 2016 - 42 billion
- July 2017 - 55 billion
- May 2018 - 65 billion
- October 2020 - 100 billion
- December 2020 - 100+ billion
Source: Statista, VentureBeat, Fortune, Twitter
Time spent with WhatsApp
According to Statista, in 2021, users worldwide spent approximately 18.6 hours using WhatsApp per month.
- Brazil - 29 hours
- Argentina - 28.8 hours
- Australia - 6 hours
- United States - 7.6 hours
Top ten countries ranked by number of WhatsApp users
With 390.1 million active users, India is by far the country with the largest number of WhatsApp users.
- India - 390.1 million
- Brazil - 108.4 million
- United States - 75.1 million
- Indonesia - 68.8 million
- Russia - 64.7 million
- Mexico - 62.3 million
- Germany - 48.3 million
- Italy - 35.5 million
- Spain - 33.0 million
- UK - 30.1 million
WhatsApp Business
In 2018, WhatsApp Business was launched. The business model of WhatsApp was specifically designed for managing business profiles and interacting with customers. It enables entrepreneurs to use messaging tools, categorization options, and a WhatsApp Business profile to grow their businesses.
Today, over 50 million brands are using WhatsApp as a legitimate business tool, and 175 million customers send messages or interact with a business account on WhatsApp.
People are much more likely to open a WhatsApp message than they are to open an email. WhatsApp messages have an incredible 98% open rate and over 40%+ response rate, making it one of the most efficient marketing tools for businesses.
These additional statistics, further strengthen the value of WhatsApp for businesses:
- 225% faster customer service
- 99.4% reduced time to complete an order
- 60% cost reduction with fewer paper statements delivered
- 21% increase in net promoter score
In a nutshell
There are over two billion users worldwide, making WhatsApp the most popular global mobile messenger app. Today, over 100 billion messages are sent daily in more than 180 countries worldwide, while users spend over 18 hours on the application every month.
WhatsApp Business is one of the most effective marketing tools available. Messages sent from businesses to their customers have a 99% open rate and over 40%+ response rate, making WhatsApp the best tool for B2C interactions.
Unlock the incredible possibilities of WhatsApp and start growing your business with the world’s favorite messaging app.
Miodrag Magyar brings over 15 years of hands-on experience in content writing and marketing, with a special talent for making even the trickiest topics clear and interesting. His true passion lies in guiding businesses to effectively utilize WhatsApp to build stronger customer relationships and drive results. With an eye for detail and a heart for storytelling, he’s here to show how effective WhatsApp communication can boost sales and enhance customer engagement.
