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YouTube Stats: How Many People Use YouTube?

Brian Dean

Written by Brian Dean

YouTube Usage and Growth Statistics: How Many People Use YouTube

YouTube was officially founded on February 14th, 2005. The first video followed on April 23rd, with co-founder Jawed Karim publishing “Me at the zoo”. The now-legendary 18 seconds of the film have been viewed over 372 million times.

With over 2.54 billion active users, the platform has come a long way. In fact, 44.9% of all global internet users access YouTube regularly.

This article is a one-stop shop for a variety of YouTube demographic and usage statistics.

Here’s a summary of what you’ll learn:

YouTube Statistics (Top Picks)

  • YouTube currently has 2.54 billion users. Up from 2 billion users in 2019.
  • 44.9% of all global internet users access YouTube monthly.
  • YouTube’s user count of 2.54 billion places it third on the list of most-used social media platforms. Only Facebook and WhatsApp have more users.
  • India has the most YouTube users, estimated at 509 million. The United States follows, with 248 million.
  • Globally, more men than women use YouTube.
  • Quarterly YouTube ad revenue is nearly $10 billion.
  • On average, individual creators receive between $1.61-$29.3 per 1000 views.

YouTube Active Users

According to the latest data, YouTube has 2.54 billion active users as of July 2025. Among these, there are more than 125 million paid subscribers, taking into account YouTube’s Premium and Music services.

YouTube has 2.54 billion active users as of July 2025

Nearly half (44.9%) of internet users worldwide access YouTube.

Nearly half of internet users worldwide access YouTube

Source: DataReportal, YouTube

YouTube User Growth

YouTube currently has 2.49 billion users. Which means close to half of the global online population are YouTube users. So how did the video sharing platform get to this point?

YouTube User Growth

There isn’t any official consolidated data on YouTube’s user growth rate over time, but we can get a reasonable idea by pulling various sources together. Here are some milestones in terms of YouTube’s user growth.

Note: Due to differences in methodology, data from multiple sources above may not be comparable.
Year Active users
2006 20 million
2008 160 million
2012 800 million
2013 1 billion
2014 1.3 billion
2019 2 billion
2021 2.29 billion
2022 2.52 billion
2023 2.53 billion
2024 2.5 billion
2025 2.54 billion

YouTube currently ranks as the 2nd most visited website worldwide. The only website to receive more traffic is that of its parent company, Google.

Sources: DataReportal, Semrush, The New York Times, The New Yorker, CNBC, The Mercury News, CNET

YouTube Users by Country

YouTube is localized in over 100 countries. It can also be used in 80 different languages. Clearly, the video sharing platform has become a truly global phenomenon. But how do usage statistics break down by country?

India has the largest YouTube audience. At least 509 million people living in India are YouTube users. The USA comes in second.

YouTube Users by Country

Here are the top ten countries by total estimated number of YouTube users:

Country YouTube Users
India 509 million
USA 248 million
Indonesia 145 million
Brazil 143 million
Mexico 81.5 million
Japan 75.4 million
Germany 64.1 million
Vietnam 61.6 million
Philippines 57.8 million
Turkey 57.5 million
UK 54.4 million
Pakistan 54.3 million
France 49.8 million
Bangladesh 49.3 million
Egypt 48.4 million
Thailand 45.7 million
South Korea 43.5 million
Italy 41.7 million
Spain 39.3 million
Argentina 32.2 million

Sources: YouTube, DataReportal

Ranked 3rd: Most Used Social Media Platforms Worldwide

In 2025, YouTube is ranked third amongst all global social media platforms. Sorted by the number of active users, it is beaten only by Facebook and WhatsApp.

Most Used Social Media Platforms Worldwide

For context, there are just shy of 5.41 billion active social media users globally. So YouTube is one of just three platforms that can claim to have captured at least a 50% share of all social media users.

Platform Users
Facebook 3.07 billion
WhatsApp 3 billion
YouTube 2.54 billion
Instagram 2 billion
TikTok 1.94 billion
WeChat 1.4 billion
Telegram 1 billion
Facebook Messenger 952 million
Snapchat 900 million
Douyin 750 million
Kuaishou 712 million
Reddit 695 million
Weibo 591 million
Pinterest 570 million
X/Twitter 561 million
QQ 534 million

Source: DataReportal

YouTube User Demographics

Given that YouTube has 2.49 billion users, it can be safely said that people from a whole range of demographics use the site. But user breakdowns can give an idea of the groups of society where YouTube is the most popular.

YouTube Gender Demographics

50.2% of all adult YouTube users in the USA are female, while the remaining 49.8% are male. But globally, more male users use YouTube compared to female users, around 53.2% of YouTube users are male and 46.8% are female.

Any content creators without a specifically gendered target market should therefore be looking to make videos with a relatively even male/female viewer split in mind.

Source: DataReportal

YouTube Age Demographics

More than half (50.6%) of YouTube users are Gen Z and Millennials (born between 1981 and 2012). Only 15% of US YouTube are Baby boomers (1946-1964).

50.6% of YouTube users are Gen Z and Millennials

Here’s a detailed breakdown of US users by generation:

Generation Share of US YouTube users
Gen Z (1997-2012) 25.1%
Millennials (1981-1996) 25.5%
Gen X (1965-1980) 19.9%
Baby Boomers (1946-1964) 15.0%
Other 14.5%

Globally, around 56% of YouTube users are aged between 18 and 34 years old.

Note: Values may not sum up to 100% and may not reflect the total active user base.
Age group Share of global YouTube users
18-24 15.8%
25-34 21.7%
35-44 18.5%
45-54 14%
55-64 9.9%
65+ 9.5%

Sources: eMarketer, DataReportal

YouTube Location Demographics

US adults living in suburban areas are more likely to use YouTube. 84% of those in suburbia are YouTube users, dropping to 85% in urban and 81% in rural locations.

Sorted by country, India has the most YouTube users. The USA follows, with Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico next.

Sources: Pew Research Center, DataReportal

YouTube Income Demographics

In the USA, YouTube is most popular among high earners. 90% of those earning $100,000 or more say that they sometimes visit YouTube.

Among Americans with an income of $70,000-$99,999 income, 87% are Youtube users, and dropping to 79% among US adults with an income of between $30,000 and $69,999. That figure drops again for those earning under $30k, with 78% of this group using YouTube.

Source: Pew Research Center

YouTube User Education Level Data

These statistics reveal a correlation between YouTube usage in the USA and higher levels of education.

79% of adults with a high school education or less use the video-sharing platform. This rises to 87% for those with some college education. Among those with more than a college education, 90% use YouTube.

Source: Pew Research Center

YouTube Usage by Device

In YouTube’s early days, PCs and laptops were the only real viewing options. But the digital landscape has changed hugely since 2005. Smartphones and smart TVs have altered how people interact with the world – and with YouTube specifically.

The YouTube mobile app has over 10 billion downloads on the Google Play store. It is therefore unsurprising that 63% of all views on YouTube come from mobile devices.

63% of all views on YouTube come from mobile devices

To put it in a perspective, desktop computers accounted for only 12% of YouTube views.

Here’s a detailed of breakdown of global YouTube views by device in Q2 2021:

Device Share of YouTube video views
Mobile 63%
Connected TV/other 14%
Desktop 12%
Tablet 8%
Console 3%

According to another more recent report, mobile devices accounted for 69% of YouTube’s total viewership, with only 16% of views coming from TV in 2025 to date.

Sources: eMarketer, Google Play, Tubular Labs

Most-Subscribed YouTube Channels

MrBeast is the most-subscribed YouTube channel with 434 million subscribers to date.

Here is the top 10:

Most-Subscribed YouTube Channels

And here are the exact subscriber numbers:

Channel Subscribers
MrBeast 434 million
T-Series 303 million
CocoMelon – Nursery Rhymes 197 million
SET India 186 million
Vlad and Niki 145 million
Kids Diana Show 136 million
Stokes Twins 131 million
Like Nastya 130 million
김프로KIMPRO 120 million
Zee Music Company 120 million

Source: SocialBlade

Most-Viewed YouTube Videos

Baby Shark Dance is the most viewed YouTube video of all time, reaching over 15.47 billion hits.

Most-Viewed YouTube Videos

The top 10 is dominated by music. It looks like this:

Video Views
Baby Shark Dance (music, kids) 15.47 billion
Despacito (music) 8.63 billion
Johny Johny Yes Papa (music, kids) 6.99 billion
Bath Song (music, kids) 6.96 billion
Wheels on the Bus (music, kids) 6.95 billion
See You Again (music) 6.52 billion
Shape of You (music) 6.39 billion
Phonic Song with Two Words (music, kids) 6.21 billion
Uptown Funk (music) 5.44 billion
Gangnam Style (music) 5.41 billion

Source: Statista

YouTube by the Money

In November 2006, Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. At the time, this was considered a hugely risky investment. Now, it earns nearly 5x this in ad revenue – quarterly.

YouTube advertising revenue amounted to $18.72 billion in the first six months of 2025, a 11.6% year-on-year increase.

YouTube’s ads accounted for a 10.03% share of Alphabet’s overall revenue in the first six months of 2025.

These figures don’t even include money from subscriptions. YouTube hit 125 million Music and Premium subscribers worldwide. A monthly individual subscription for YouTube Premium in the US costs $13.99.

Creators who are a part of the Partner Program on YouTube are paid 55% of advertising revenue, and YouTube takes a 45% cut. Actual earnings among YouTube creators vary significantly, depending on factors such as engagement rate, but as a rough average channel owners can earn between $1.61 and $29.30 for every 1000 video views.

Sources: Investopedia, Alphabet, YouTube, TechCrunch, Business Insider

Conclusion

You made it! That’s the end of my list of YouTube user statistics.

Hopefully, you found these facts and figures informative. Lots of the YouTube stats beyond their press page require some hunting down, but I’ve done my best to put a good selection together in one place.

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