17 min read
Nour Nasr - Oct 28, 2022

Instagram: The Essential Figures in 2022 in the UK and in The World

Instagram has been growing steadily since its launch in 2010, even though it faces strong competition from Snapchat and TikTok. In the UK, in 2022, with around 32 million monthly users, it is the 2nd most used social media, ahead of Twitter and LinkedIn, but behind Facebook. In March 2022, Instagram had 34.74 million UK users—the highest number ever recorded for the nation.

In the world, Instagram totaled 1.393 billion monthly active users in 2020. But in December 2021, we learn that Instagram would have reached 2 billion users in the world placing it in 3rd place behind Facebook and Youtube. The mobile application remains in good shape: In the fourth quarter of 2021, it was the most downloaded in the world. Instagram celebrated its 10th anniversary on October 6, 2020.

We analyzed recent trends, and took stock with figures and statistics on Instagram in the UK and worldwide: number of users, average age of subscribers, influencers, engagement rates, brands, financial results, Stories...

 

Instagram figures in the UK in 2022

  1. Demographics
  2. Influencer marketing
  3. Influencers
  4. Hashtags

 

Instagram statistics in the world in 2022

  1. Demographics
  2. Brands and companies
  3. Engagement
  4. Hashtags

 

 

👉 Check out : LinkedIn: the essential figures in 2022 in the UK

 

I. Instagram figures in the UK

1. Demographics

Number of Instagram users in the UK: 
It is estimated that +32 million English people use Instagram every month. People between the ages of 25 and 34 made up the biggest percentage of Instagram users, reaching approximately 31%. This places the United Kingdom as the 22nd in the world in terms of the number of Instagram followers. 

 

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Percentage of internet users who use the platforms each month

 

Instagram is the 4th largest social network for Generation Z (15-25 year olds) in the UK in daily visitors.

  • UK has 40.41 million WhatsApp users, third largest in Europe.
  • In the UK, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app.
  • The chat app has 40.41 million users, the third-highest number in Europe behind Germany and Russia.

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Instagram users in the UK by gender - 2021 vs 2022

 

  • Women typically receive five times as many likes as males do.
  • According to Instagram advertising data, female users have a greater influence than their male counterparts. A woman's post typically receives 578 likes compared to 117 likes for a man's post. Men are also ten times more likely than women to like, comment on, and share a post.

 

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  • 56% of English Instagram users are women (44% are men). 

  • Women aged 25 to 34 made up the largest age-gender category, accounting for 16.3% of all users.

  • There were findings showing that 54% of Instagram users used the site frequently. Another 12% only occasionally visited it, only occasionally per week.

  • In the UK, 52.5% of Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 34.

  • 87% of children aged 12-15 have a social media profile in the UK.

Additionally, the bulk of them are between the ages of 18 and 34, proving that this platform is especially appealing to millennials and members of Generation Z.

 

 

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Teenagers in the UK are avoiding traditional news outlets in favor of YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
For the first time among teens in 2022 (29%), Instagram is the most widely utilized news source. YouTube and TikTok come in second and third place, with 28% of young people using them to follow news.

 

 

 

2. Influencer Marketing in the UK

Possibly the most widely used social media platform for influencer marketing is Instagram.

15% of influencers are under the age of 25, while 53% are between the ages of 25 and 34.

For example, the top influencers on TRIBE in the UK region make up to £600 a week through the platform at a rate of £110 per post.

 

In the UK, the account categories that grew the most between March and May 2020 were DIY & Design, Kids & toys, humor and shows. 

 

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Account categories with the highest growth between March and May 2020 


Source :  HypeAuditor Sampleo Study

 

3. Influencers

In the UK, the top 10 most followed instagram influencers are:

 

  1. Dua Lipa (84+ M followers)
  2. David Beckham (73+ M)
  3. Tom Holland (67+ M)
  4. Emma Watson (66+ M)
  5. Adele (50+ M)
  6. Millie Bobby Brown (50+ M)
  7. Gareth bale (47+ M)
  8. Zayn Malik (45+ M)
  9. Conor McGregor (45+ M)
  10. Harry Styles (45+ M)

 

4. The most popular hashtags on Instagram in the UK

In 2022, the top 5 most popular hashtags in the UK are: 

  1. #london (14.53%).

  2. #travel (4.56%)

  3. #uk (4.56%)
  4. #love (4.27%) 

  5. #photography (4.09%)

 

Social media monitoring small

 

 

 

II. Instagram statistics in the world

 

1. Demographics and use

Number of users

 

Instagram would have passed the 2 billion monthly user mark in the fall of 2021 according to confidential sources inside the company.
Instagram has more than 1.45 billion users in potential audience in October 2021.
In September 2017, Instagram announced more than 800 million users (twice as many users in 2 years since 2015).

More than 500 million Instagram accounts worldwide are active every day.

 

 

Downloads of the Instagram app

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In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Instagram app was the most downloaded app in the world ahead of TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp.

 

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The top 20 countries with the most users on Instagram. DataReportal 2022

 

 

87% of users are outside the US. The countries with the most users are the USA (157 million), India (201 million), Brazil (115 million), Indonesia (94 million) and Russia (60 million).

 

Duration of use

Social users spend an average of 28 minutes per day on Instagram (37 minutes on Facebook), 29 minutes are expected by 2021.

 

Age and Gender

  • 51.9% of users are women (and therefore 48.1% are men).

  • 70% of Instagrammers worldwide are under 34 years old

  • The 25-34 year olds are the most present on the network (31.2%), just ahead of the 18-24 year olds (31%)

  • 17.9% of Instagrammers are men between the ages of 18 and 24, 14.8% are women between 25 and 34.

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Likes on instagram

4.2 billion of likes are counted every day on Instagram

 

Time spent

Instagram users spend an average of 53 minutes per day on the platform (58 minutes on Facebook)(53 .

 

The biggest Instagram accounts in subscribers in the world

The top Instagram accounts in number of followers are Instagram with 449 million followers followed by Cristiano Ronaldo (376 million), Leo Messi (289 million), Kylie Jenner (288 million), The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)(282 million). 

 

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2. Instagram for brands and companies 

Instagram hosts over 25 million professional profiles worldwide.

Over 2 million advertisers worldwide use Instagram to communicate.

More than 200 million Instagrammers view at least one professional profile every day. 90% of accounts follow a business or brand on Instagram.

 

83% of Instagrammers say they discover new products and services on Instagram.

 

Most followed Instagram brands

The 10 most followed Instagram accounts of brands and companies in the World are Instagram (358 million followers), National Geographic (141 million), Nike (118), Real Madrid (89.5), FC Barcelona (87.5), Victoria's Secret (68.7), UEFA (60.9), Nasa (59.7), 9Gag (53.7) and NBA (49.3).  

 

In the UK, the 10 most followed Instagram accounts of brands and companies are Burberry (10.4 million followers), Top Shop (9.2 million), Jimmy Choo (7.3), ASOS (6.6), Jaguar (5.5), Alexander McQueen (5.3), Aston Martin (4.7), Bentley (4.6), Stella McCartney (4.5) and Rolls-Royce (4.2 million).

 

 

3. Engagement on Instagram

The principles of engagement rate on Instagram 

The larger the community of an Instagrammer is, the more the number of likes and comments decreases: If we relate the rate of likes to the number of followers on Instagram, a peak is located around 1,000 followers, followed by a drop to the 10,000-100,000 followers range and then a stabilization beyond. The comment rate follows the same principle with a peak at 1,000 followers. According to this pattern, the best community/engagement compromise would be in the 10,000-100,000 followers section. Indeed, the algorithm changes have had an impact on the engagement of all categories of Instagrammers, except for those who address a community of more than 100,000 followers .

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The drivers of engagement 

Posts with a geolocation would get 79% more engagement.
Posts with at least one hashtag would generate on average 12.6% more engagement.
Instagram posts with a video would get 2 times more engagement than photos. 

 

Purchases

50% of Millennials said they purchased a brand after seeing an ad, promotion or review on Instagram, compared to 53% of Generation Z .

Less than a quarter (23%) of Gen Xers reported buying something after seeing it on Instagram and only 5% of Baby Boomers.

 

4. The most popular hashtags on Instagram Worldwide

In 2022, the most popular hashtags worldwide are: 

  1. #Love (1.835 Billion).

  2. #Instagood (1.150 Billion)

  3. #Fashion (812.7 Billion)
  4. #Photooftheday (797.3 Million) 

  5. #Beautiful (661.0 Million)

 

 

Social listening powered by Artificial Intelligence

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Written by Nour Nasr

Hello, my name is Nour Nasr, I am from Lebanon. I'm a marketing intern at Digimind in the Paris office, and my work mostly focuses on the French market. Before starting this internship, I attended a Master in International Sustainability Management & Corporate Social Responsibility at Politecnico di Milano in Italy. I hope to combine both sustainability and marketing in my future experience and learn more skills throughout the way!!