Facebook demographics reach farther and wider than any other social media network.

But it’s important to look closely at the numbers to get a full picture of who uses Facebook—and how usage has changed over the years. And it has definitely changed.

In some places, Facebook’s audience has shrunk. In other areas, audience sizes are growing. Some people are taking breaks from the site, while others are posting less personal information. Meanwhile, Facebook Groups are surging in popularity.

Whether you’re planning to use Facebook to break into new markets, boost sales, or connect with customers, it’s important to stay on top of Facebook user demographics.

Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

27 Facebook user demographics you need to know in 2020

1. Facebook has more than 2.45 billion monthly active users

Facebook’s latest figures show that more than 2.45 billion people log in to the platform every month. That’s a slight increase from 2.32 billion in 2018.

On a daily basis, there are more than 1.62 million people active on Facebook. That figure is also up from 2018, marking a 9% year-over-year increase.

2. Facebook estimates that at least 116 million accounts are fake

Approximately 5% of Facebook’s worldwide monthly active users are fake accounts. Between April and September 2019, Facebook says it disabled more than 3.2 billion fake profiles. But it’s worth noting that some have suggested the company’s numbers here don’t always add up.

Facebook also estimates that it has more than 255 million duplicate accounts. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the company reported that duplicate accounts represent around 11% of its global monthly users. Many of these accounts, Facebook says, are created in Vietnam and the Philippines.

3. Facebook’s ad audience growth rate fell to 0.4%

Between July and September in 2019, Facebook advertising growth rate was 0.4%. It’s a noteworthy dip from the 3% growth rate the company reported in the previous quarter.

Forecasts suggest growth will remain slow in 2020. As Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Wehner, said on a recent earnings call, “We continue to expect deceleration into 2020, but it will be, we believe, more moderated.” He cites ad-targeting related headwinds as a main reason for the slow down.

All the more reason to brush up your Facebook marketing skills.

4. Most adults log on to Facebook every day

Almost 75% of U.S. adults don’t go a day without checking Facebook. Plus, more than half of Americans check Facebook multiple times a day.

5. Seven in 10 U.S. adults use Facebook

According to Pew Research Center, 71% of U.S. adults use the social network. The only platform that has Facebook beat with this demographic is YouTube, with 74%. Less than four-in-ten U.S. adults use Instagram.

6. Facebook reaches the largest number of users aged 13-17

Tik Tok has been hailed as the latest teen craze, but Facebook still corners the social market when it comes to reaching teens around the world.

Research from Hootsuite, Kepios, and We Are Social shows that advertisers on Facebook can reach upward of 113.3 million teens. On Snapchat, maximum reach among teens is 66.9 million. Instagram reach for the 13-17 age range is 52.9 million.

But, Facebook’s youth advertising audience may be shrinking. The company’s advertising tools show that marketers can now reach 2.6% fewer teenagers when compared to the second quarter of 2019.

7. Facebook is used by people of all ages

Some social media networks tend to be popular with specific age groups. Take LinkedIn for example, which unsurprisingly, is most popular among U.S. adults between 25-49 years old.

Facebook, on the other hand, has a fairly even spread of users across most age groups. For example, more than 75% of Americans between 18-49 years old use Facebook.

Within that age range, there’s little variance. In fact, just as many 18-29 year-olds as 30-49 year-olds use Facebook in the U.S. In other words, just as many kids use Facebook as parents.

8. Seniors are the smallest, but fastest growing Facebook age demographic

Across all social media channels, signups tend to drop off with age. That’s true on Facebook, too. People over the age of 50 are less likely to be on Facebook than younger generations.

But seniors also happen to be the fastest growing age demographic on the site. According to Pew Research Center, the share of older Americans on the platform has more than doubled since 2012.

When it comes to Facebook age demographics, this trend will likely increase as the middle-aged population ages into the senior sector.

9. Facebook is the most popular social network among seniors

Seniors may be Facebook’s smallest age group in the United States, but they flock to Facebook in larger number than other social sites.

Among Americans 65 and older, 46% use Facebook. Compare that with 38% on YouTube, 15% on Pinterest, and 11% on LinkedIn.

Here’s another fun fact: data shows older people share more fake news on Facebook.

10. In the U.S., more women use Facebook than men

Findings from a Pew Research Center survey show that 75% of women in the United States are on Facebook. By comparison, 63% of men use the platform.

11. Women are more likely to create meaningful Facebook Groups

According to Facebook, women are 40% more likely to create groups that become meaningful to people. Women also create nearly 70% of all fundraisers on Facebook.

12. People who feel their use of Facebook is problematic are likely to be young men

A recent study by Facebook researchers set out to understand the negative effects of social media and inform the design of supportive tools.

The report, entitled “Understanding Perceptions of Problematic Facebook Use,” finds that people who find their Facebook use troublesome are likely to be young males going through a difficult period, such as a break up.

In terms of behavior, they tend to spend more time on Facebook, especially at night. Rather than scrolling through the News Feed, they’re likely looking at profiles, and messaging friends more frequently.

Ironically, people who find their use of Facebook problematic also rate the network as valuable to them.

13. Facebook is the most popular social network in rural areas

About three-in-four U.S. adults who use Facebook live in the city. But suburban and rural residents also use Facebook in fairly equal number.

More interestingly, compared to other social channels, Facebook has the highest penetration in rural areas. Approximately 66% of U.S. adults in rural regions use Facebook. That’s followed by YouTube with 64%, then Pinterest where the number drops off to 26%.

14. In the U.S., African American and Hispanic are the most popular multicultural affinities

Facebook uses machine learning to designate its users with “multicultural affinities.”

Not all users are given a designation, but a recent survey in the U.S. found that among those who are, 43% are thought to have an interest in African American culture.

The same share or participants with designations—43%—were assigned an affinity to Hispanic culture. One-in-ten had an affinity with Asian American culture. “Caucasian” or “white culture” classifications do not exist.

It’s worth noting that only 60% of people given a multicultural affinity felt a “very” or “somewhat” strong connection to the culture. Some 37% felt otherwise. More than half considered themselves to be members of the multicultural group, while 39% said they were not.

15. The majority of Facebook’s audience is based outside of the U.S.

Combined, the U.S. and Canada have the lowest number of monthly and daily users. Europe places second last, with a 17% share of daily Facebook users.

16. User growth in Europe bounced back in 2019

Facebook lost more than a million European users amid the 2018 privacy scandals, dropping from 376 to 375 million monthly active users over a three-month period.

Despite an ongoing decline in France and Germany, overall growth has since rebounded. Facebook currently has 387 million monthly users in Europe.

17. Asia-Pacific is Facebook’s most active region

More than 40% of Facebook’s monthly users can be found in the Asia-Pacific region. On a daily basis, the region is home to 38% of Facebook’s active users.

That’s a strong showing, considering that Facebook is still banned in China (along with Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and other sites).

If you’re using Facebook to advertise in APAC, make sure your website is fast. Facebook research finds that 55% of people in the region will not wait more than five seconds for a web page to load.

18. India boasts Facebook’s largest advertising audience

With a reach of 269 million people, India is home to the biggest audience for Facebook advertisers. It’s followed by the United States, where advertisers can reach 183 million people. In third place is Indonesia with a reach of 123 million.

The audience sizes are impressive, but have gotten smaller. As world-renowned digital expert Simon Kemp notes, the numbers are lower than they were in the previous quarter.

19. India, Indonesia, and the Philippines are Facebook’s fastest growing regions

Facebook continues to gain users around the world—including in the US and Canada. In a recent company earnings call (Q3 2019), it was revealed that India, Indonesia, and the Philippines are the regions with the most growth.

In fact, according to Statista, with 269 million users, India has the more Facebook users than any other country in the world.

One of the reasons Facebook gives for the accelerated growth is that digital adoption is spreading rapidly in these regions.

20. Half of Facebook users speak a language other than English

More than 50% of the social network’s 2.45 billion users speak a non-English language.

If you know what languages your audience speaks, you can either rely on the Facebook Translate tool, or try Facebook’s language optimization ad feature. It may also be worthwhile to create multiple Facebook pages for different languages.

Check out our tips for building a multilingual social presence.

21. People in emerging markets are more likely to message businesses

After examining 15 markets, Facebook found that people in emerging markets are 2.4 times more likely to message businesses than people in mature markets.

In Brazil, 85% of Facebook survey respondents had messaged a business in the past three months, followed by 74% in India. By contrast, in the United States and the United Kingdom, only 61% of respondents had.

22. Mobile reigns supreme, especially in Africa and Latin America

Of the more than 139 million monthly Facebook users in Africa, a whopping 98% are on mobile. Globally, 88% of users access Facebook from a mobile device.

Mobile is also popular in Latin America, including when it comes to watching video. According to Facebook, people in Brazil and Mexico are 1.42 times more likely to rank smartphones as their preferred way to watch videos when compared with “mature mobile markets.”

In Mexico, people are 2.07 times more likely to choose mobile over desktop for watching video. A similar pattern can be seen across Argentina and Colombia as well.

23. Facebook is the most popular social network in low income households

Findings from a 2019 Pew Research survey reveal that 69% of U.S. adults in the lowest income households use Facebook. Except for YouTube, no other social network comes close. For example, only 35% of people at the same income level use Instagram.

The economic gap widens among U.S. teens. The same study finds that teenagers in low-income homes are more likely to use Facebook than teens from high-income households. Seven-in-ten teens in households that earn less than $30,000 a year use Facebook, versus 36% of teens who live in homes with an income of $75,000 or more.

That said, overall, Facebook use is fairly evenly distributed across income ranges. The only site that has a higher share of high earners is YouTube.

24. More than a quarter of people feel Facebook does not classify them correctly

Advertisers can target people based on everything from age and location. Facebook also adds other identifiers based on user data and behaviour to help marketers target ads.

Anyone can see what categories Facebook puts them in on the Your ad preferences page. But not everyone thinks Facebook gets it right. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 27% of people think they are not accurately represented by Facebook’s classifications. On the flip side, 59% of users think classifications are “very accurate.”

Right or wrong, about half of Facebook users are not comfortable with how they are categorized. Keep this in mind when targeting your next Facebook ad campaign.

25. Politically, Facebook users are divided

It’s no secret that Facebook tracks the political affiliations of its users.

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that of those in the U.S. who were given a political label, 35% were classified as conservative or very conservative, and 34% were classified as liberal or very liberal. The remaining 29% were classified as moderate.

Most people—73%, in fact—think that their political label is either very or somewhat accurate. The other 27% think their label is not accurate.

26. Four in ten people have taken a break from Facebook

For many Facebook users, a little digital detox is in order from time to time.

Some 42% of U.S. adults have taken a break from Facebook for several weeks or more. And roughly one quarter has deleted the Facebook app from their phone.

At the same time, a recent study found that the average user would be unwilling to delete their Facebook account for anything less than $1,000.

27. People spend more time reading Facebook posts in the morning and at night

In a study by Facebook researchers, tests showed that people spent more time reading Facebook posts at 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. when compared with 12 p.m and 4 p.m.

Researchers also noted an “morning morality effect.” The effect exists, they explain, because “people have higher moral awareness and self control in the morning.”

The upshot? Maybe early in the morning isn’t the best time to appeal to guilty pleasures. But it would be a good time to appeal to important causes. These are the best times to post on Facebook.

Now that you know who you can reach on Facebook, here are the top marketing stats that will help you reach them.

Now that you know who you’re most likely to find on Facebook, get insight into your specific Facebook audience, track the performance of your posts, and level up your entire Facebook marketing strategy with Hootsuite Analytics. Try it free today.

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