How Many People Use Telegram? 55 Telegram Stats
Written by Backlinko Team
Telegram was launched on August 14, 2013, as a privacy-focused, ad-free messaging app. First available on iOS, the alpha version of the Android app was released later that same year.
Telegram brought in approximately 100,000 daily active users in its first year.
Today, it reportedly has more than 950 million monthly active users. Ranked by the number of downloads, Telegram is among the top 10 most popular social networks in the world.
Read on to find all the important Telegram usage statistics for 2024. Here’s a full breakdown of what we’ll cover:
- Telegram Statistics (Top Picks)
- Telegram Monthly Active Users
- Telegram Daily Active Users
- Telegram Premium Subscribers
- Telegram App Downloads
- Average Time Spent on Telegram
- Where Is Telegram Based?
- Ranked: Telegram Is the 8th Most Used Social Media Platform Worldwide
- Telegram Gender Demographics
- Telegram Popularity in Select Countries
Important Telegram Stats
- Telegram has 950 million monthly active users
- Telegram app downloads across App Store and Google Play reached 271.8 million in 2024 (as of October)
- Telegram has 10 million paying users for its optional subscription service
- The average Telegram user spends nearly 4 hours 25 minutes on the app monthly
Telegram Monthly Active Users
According to company data, Telegram has 950 million monthly active users as of July 2024. That’s up from 900 million monthly active users reported in spring 2024.
Since April 2020, the messenger app added 450 million users to its user base.
According to Telegram founder Pavel Durov, 2.5 million users sign up for Telegram every day.
Here’s a full breakdown of Telegram users over time:
| Date | Monthly active users |
|---|---|
| March 2014 | 35 million |
| December 2014 | 50 million |
| September 2015 | 60 million |
| February 2016 | 100 million |
| December 2017 | 180 million |
| March 2018 | 200 million |
| October 2019 | 300 million |
| April 2020 | 400 million |
| January 2021 | 500 million |
| July 2021 | 550 million |
| June 2022 | 700 million |
| 2023 | 800 million |
| Spring 2024 | 900 million |
| July 2024 | 950 million |
Sources: Statista, Telegram 1, Telegram 2
Telegram Daily Active Users
According to the company data, Telegram has 450 million daily active users as of Spring 2024, accounting for half of the monthly active user base.
Source: Telegram
Telegram Premium Subscribers
Telegram offers an optional subscription service that unlocks exclusive features available to paying users only, including 4 GB file uploads (vs. standard 2 GB), faster download speed, and premium stickers among others.
According to Pavel Durov (Telegram founder), Telegram Premium hit 10 million paid subscribers in September 2024.
That’s up from 4 million paying users in December 2023. Back in July 2023, Telegram had 2 million premium subscribers.
Despite paid user base growth, only around 1% of Telegram’s monthly active user base pay for a premium subscription, while the rest use the free version.
Source: Telegram
Telegram App Downloads
Telegram’s app downloads reached 271.8 million in 2024 (as of October 27).
Telegram downloads hit 292.7 million downloads in 2023.
In September 2024, Telegram was downloaded 30 million times and ranked as the 7th most downloaded app (WhatsApp ranked 4th with 35 million).
Here’s a detailed breakdown of Telegram global downloads across the App Store and Google Play (excludes lite versions) since 2017:
| Date | App downloads |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 57.3 million |
| 2018 | 80.3 million |
| 2019 | 119.5 million |
| 2020 | 294.9 million |
| 2021 | 376.3 million |
| 2022 | 298.6 million |
| 2023 | 292.7 million |
| 2024* (as of October 27) | 271.8 million |
Source: Appfigures
How Much Time Do Telegram Users Spend on the App?
On average, users of Telegram on Android spent approximately 4 hours and 25 minutes per month using the app in August 2024, which amounts to 8.5 minutes of daily usage.
Source: DataReportal
Where Is Telegram Based?
Telegram’s development team is currently based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The issuer of the Telegram mobile app is Telegram FZ-LLC, an organization registered in the United Arab Emirates.
Source: Telegram
Ranked: Telegram Is the 7th Most Used Social Media Platform Worldwide
According to Kepios analysis, Telegram is the 7th most used social media platform worldwide by active user figures, with 950 million active users worldwide.
Source: DataReportal
Telegram Gender Demographics
Telegram’s user base consists of 43% female users and 56.9% male users.
Source: DataReportal
Telegram Popularity in Select Countries
According to a recent survey, nearly half (45%) of respondents in India are active Telegram users, while only 1% of respondents in Japan claim to use Telegram regularly.
Here’s the table with a share of respondents who regularly use Telegram by country:
| Country | Share of Respondents Who Use Telegram |
|---|---|
| India | 45% |
| Brazil | 38% |
| Mexico | 34% |
| South Africa | 32% |
| Spain | 32% |
| Italy | 29% |
| Germany | 16% |
| France | 11% |
| United Kingdom | 10% |
| United States | 9% |
| Japan | 1% |
Source: Statista
Conclusion
That’s it for my list of Telegram user stats.
Telegram is one of those apps that discloses few details. So I did my best to find stats that were scattered among news articles and founder interviews.