This article was updated on April 26, 2017, and originally published on March 30, 2017.
On pace to hit 2 billion monthly active users in 2017, Facebook (FB 1.29%) is the world's largest social network by a long shot. But exactly how many users does Facebook have? And what can be learned about these users?
Here's a look at the most telling statistics about Facebook's users.
Image source: Getty Images.
1.86 billion: Facebook has 1.86 billion monthly active users -- far ahead of the rest of the world's social networks. The next three largest social networks, for instance, are each 700 million or more users behind Facebook. WhatsApp and Messenger have 1.2 billion monthly active users each, and YouTube has about 1 billion monthly active users as of last count (a complete list of the world's 10 largest social networks can be found here).
17%: Facebook's monthly active users continue to grow at a rapid rate. The company's 1.86 billion monthly active users achieved in the fourth quarter of 2016 is up 17% year over year.
Data source: Facebook's quarterly SEC filings. Chart by author.
66%: Perhaps where Facebook's user statistics shine the most is the percentage of monthly active users that use the service every single day. This rate, often referred to Facebook's engagement rate, was 66% throughout 2016 -- up from 65% in 2015.
18%: Facebook's daily active users actually increased slightly faster than its monthly active users in 2016. Daily active users by the end of the year were 1.23 billion, up 18% year over year from 1.04 billion in 2015.
94%: Today, Facebook is almost entirely mobile driven. Of Facebook's 1.86 billion monthly active users, 94% of them -- or 1.74 billion -- are also monthly active users on mobile devices.
1.15 billion: Further highlighting how important mobile is to Facebook, 1.15 billion monthly active users only use Facebook on mobile devices. Facebook calls these people mobile-only monthly active users, and they soared 40% between 2015 and 2016.
Data source: Q4 2016 SEC filing. Chart by author.
Unsurprisingly, 84% of Facebook's advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2016 came from ads on mobile devices.
231 million: Believe it or not, the U.S. and Canada is Facebook's smallest geographic segment in terms of monthly active users. Facebook pegs monthly active users in the region at 231 million. It has 349 million in Europe, 673 million in Asia-Pacific, and 606 million in the rest of the world.
51%: Despite being its smallest segment measured by monthly active users, the U.S. and Canada together accounted for over half of Facebook's advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2016. Advertising revenue in the U.S. and Canada was $4.4 billion. Ad revenues in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and rest of the world were $2 billion, $1.4 billion, and $832 million, respectively.
$15.98: In 2016, Facebook generated an average of $15.98 of revenue per monthly active user. This is up about 34% from its $11.96 of average revenue per user in 2015.
At the rate Facebook is currently growing its user base, the company is well on its way to hitting 2 billion monthly active users in 2017. Indeed, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is aiming far beyond 2 billion users. The ambitious CEO believes the company can hit 5 billion users by 2030.
