2021 Instagram Statistics // Everything You Need to Know from SMPerth

This is it. The ultimate list of Instagram statistics that you need to know for 2021.

With the introduction of more shopping options and Reels to the platform, it’s been a big year for Instagram. The social media giant has certainly reaffirmed its position as one of the world’s most popular social media apps.

We’ve scoured the web and compiled everything we could find into one complete record, full of sources.

From the global reports such as the Digital Report, to more localised Australian sources such as the Yellow Report, we regularly update this page with the latest news we can find.

You can also check out a video version of this post here.

Here we go, all the fun facts about Instagram and stats you didn’t know you needed to know.

General Instagram Stats

The first photo ever posted to Instagram was of a dog near a taco stand, taken by Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom.
Instagram has 1 billion users using the app every month.
The second most downloaded free app in the Apple store is Instagram.
More than 40 billion photos have been shared on the app.
Approximately 100 million photos are uploaded every 24 hours.
Instagram users spend almost as much time on the platform as Facebook users. They browse for an average of 53 minutes per day versus Facebook’s 58 minutes per day.
Instagram is used by 25% of smartphone users.
#Love is the most used hashtag on Instagram. It has been used more than 1.7 billion times
Instagram is the 10th most popular Google query.
71.9% of posts on Instagram are photos
14.2% of posts on Instagram are videos.
13.9% of posts on Instagram are carousels.
Instagram is currently hiding likes for the following 7 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand.
62% of users log into their account at least once per day.
42% of users check their account multiple times per day.
Every month, 130 million Insta users click on shopping posts.
More than 50% of Instagram accounts use Explore to discover new content and new accounts to follow.
The Like button is hit 4.2 billion times per day.
200 million users check out at least one business profile each day.
More than 1 million users watch live video each day.
Carousels get more organic interactions than both video and images on Instagram.
The "perfect caption" has less than 10 words and 20 emojis.
23 emojis in video posts increase the average engagement rate to 4.95%
24 emojis are recommended in carousels for the best performance.
20 emojis are recommended in image posts for the best performance.
More people comment on video posts by brand than images.
Questions are used in 45.7% of Instagram posts, but this doesn't correlate to an increase of engagement.
On average Instagram users engage most in the afternoon, particularly 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM.
The most popular video content is "How-to" tutorials.
Posts that include a Geo-location receive nearly 80% more engagement than posts that don't.
Eighty-three percent of Instagram users discover new products and services on the platform.

Australian Specific Stats

82% of Instagrammers surveyed in Australia say they are open to discovering new brands or products on the platform
91% of Instagrammers in Australia surveyed say they use Instagram to follow an interest
89% said they’ve taken action in the moment when they saw a product/service on Instagram, such as following the brand, visiting their website or making a purchase online.
The fastest growing place to build brand love, Australians are sharing 1 million Instagram Stories every day

Instagram User Demographics

According to Statista, more than half of the global Instagram user population is younger than 34 years old.
The top 5 countries with the most Instagram users are: America (110M), Brazil (70M), India (69M), Indonesia (59M), Russia (40M).
It's predicted in 2020 that Instagram will see a 5.4% increase in American users and reach 112.5M, and 117.2M in 2021.
The 5 countries that reach the highest percentage of the population are: Brunei (60%), Iceland (57%), Turkey (56%), Sweden (55%), Kuwait (55%).
On Instagram, 52% of users are female, and 48% of users are men.
88% of Instagram users live outside of America.
As of November 2019, there are 9,442,000 Instagram users in Australia.
- This accounts for 37.2% of the entire population.
The majority of Australian Instagram users are female - 57.1%.
3,100,000 Australian users are aged between 25-34.
Nearly two-thirds of Instagram users are aged between 18 - 29.
18 - 34 year olds are the most active age group.

Instagram Demographics (US)

43% of females are on Instagram
31% of males are on Instagram
Percentage of users on Instagram
- 13 - 17 (72%)
- 18 - 29 (67%)
- 30 - 49 (47%)
- 50 - 64 (23%)
- 65+ (8%)
Locations of users on Instagram
- Urban - 46%
- Suburban - 35%
- Rural - 21%

Countries with highest number of Instagram users as of Jan 2020

Instagram Stories Stats

Instagram stories has 500 million users every day.
62% of users say they are more interested in a brand after seeing it in an Instagram Story.
The heart love sticker is the most used Giphy in Stories.

Instagram Reels Stats

As shared by Marketing Brew from the email exchange with Team Whistle:

87% of Gen Z TikTok users who have used Instagram Reels agree with the statement, “Instagram Reels is basically the same as TikTok.”
Most respondents (daily or weekly) who have used Instagram Reels do not think that TikTok is inherently special.
61% of Gen Z TikTok users said they plan to spend more time on Instagram in TikTok’s place.

Instagram Advertising Stats

It's expected that Instagram will account for nearly 30 percent of Facebook’s ad revenue in 2020.
Each month there are 2 million advertisers on Instagram.
The estimated advertising reach for Instagram users is 928.5 million.
Compared to Facebook, ad spending on Instagram is 23% higher, according to an internal study.
Instagram can reach 15% of the global population aged 13 years or older.
50.9% of Instagram's ad audience is female, and 49.1% are male.
Influencers can be paid between $100 - $2,085 per post by brand's.
Instagram will earn 12.32 billion in ad revenue in 2020.
The average Cost per click (CPC) is $2.40 per country.
The average engagement rate per contest post (CP) vs non-contest post (NCP)
- Image: CP 3.58% - NCP 2.40%
- Carousel: CP 3.29% - NCP 2.54%
- Video: CP - 21.98 - NCP 2.04%
The average engagement rate per giveaway post (GP) vs not giveaway post (NGP)
- Image: GP 3.25% - NGP 2.40%
- Carousel: GP 3.58% - NGP 2.53%
- Video: GP - 2.34 - NGP 2.09%
1 in 4 Instagram ads feature video.

Instagram Ad Audience Stats

Below is the percentage of Instagram's ad audience by age and gender.

13 - 17 years old
- Female - 3.1%
- Male - 3%
18 - 24 years old
- Female - 14%
- Male - 16%
25 - 34 years old
- Female - 17%
- Male - 18%
35 - 44 years old
- Female - 9.1%
- Male 7.4%
45 - 54 years old
- Female - 4.6%
- Male - 3.2%
55 - 64 years old
- Female - 2%
- Male - 1.2%
65+ years
- Female - 1.1%
- Male - 0.8%

Instagram Engagement Benchmarks

1.49% is the average engagement rate for all types of posts
1.87% is the average engagement rate for all types of video posts
1.11% is the average engagement rate for photo posts
0.0.6% is the average comments to followers ratio for video posts
0.08% is the average comments to followers ratio for photo posts
At a median of 1.60% engagement rate, brands with the highest engagement rates include higher education at 3.96%, nonprofits at 2.40% and sports teams at 2.40%.

Instagram Business Engagement Benchmarks

The average business account has a +2.5% growth in account followers
The average business account posts 1.7 times per day in the main feed
79% of all main feed posts are photos
21% of all main feed posts are videos
The average business account posts 13.1 Stories each month

Instagram Brand Stats

A significant 67% of marketers plan on increasing their Instagram organic activities over the next 12 months.
90% of accounts follow at least one business on Instagram
On average, brands post 2.5 Stories per week.
60% of brand's use an interactive element each week. These include polling stickers, mentions, music etc.
Brand Stories have an 85% completion rate.
According to a survey, 78% say that they see brands on Instagram as popular, 77% as creative, 76% as entertaining and 72% as committed to building community.
92% of users trust UGC more than traditional ads.
81% of users say UGC has influenced their purchase decision.
Brand's on Instagram post 11-20 times per month.
10% of brand post comments take place after 19 days.
98% of fashion brands are on Instagram.
Half of all brands on Instagram have produced at least 1 story.
Brands on Instagram receive approximately 10 times more engagement than on Facebook.
Brands can experience 23% less engagement on Facebook for the same image.
According to surveyed marketers, 89% indicated that Instagram was the most important social media channel for influencer marketing.
79% brands use Instagram for influencer campaigns, compared to:

Most Followed Instagram Accounts

Instagram - 325 million
Christiano Ronaldo - 196.4 million
Ariana Grande - 170.7 million
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - 167 million
Selena Gomez - 165 million
Kylie Jenner - 156.5 million
Kim Kardashian West - 156.1 million
Leo Messi - 140 million
Beyonce - 137.4 million
Neymar Jr - 131 million

Interactions on Instagram Across Different Industries

Fashion 31.9%
E-commerce 15.8%
Beauty 13.7%
Auto 10.3%
Retail 9.1%
Electronics 4.6%
Services 2.1%
Sporting goods 2.1%
Other 10.5%

Stats about Hashtags

Brands use less hashtags when posting videos, typically between 3 and 9.
One in three Instagram posts that contained the hashtag #ad were Story posts.

Most Used Hashtags

Influencers With the Highest Effectiveness Scores

Socialbakers measure their influencer scores by their effectiveness based on their interactions per 1,000 followers, authenticity, and the strength of their interests.