Facebook's figures show emerging economies are climbing the profile charts
Facebook’s latest figures (November 2010) show that around 575 million people now have a profile – approximately 8.5% of the world’s population. And, as we reported previously, the highest user percentages are not necessarily in the countries you would expect.
The United States still tops the chart for sheer volume of users, followed by Indonesia (which has a thriving online presence) and the UK. However, when it comes to ranking by percentage of profiles to population, while the UK’s figure has risen to 41.76%, it has been outstripped by other nations and dropped from 7th position to 15th, being replaced by countries such as Jersey which is 5th with 46.15%, Gibraltar in at 6 with 46.13%, and Monaco, number 8 with 45.52%.
It’s important to remember that while India, for example, only has 0.8% of its population on Facebook, this still represents more than 16.5 million profiles against Iceland’s 265,420, which is 58% of their population. Therefore, below we have provided the top 20 countries by number of profiles and compared their current position (November 2010 figures) with the figures we first discussed in August 2009.
| Position | Country | Profile Numbers | Position in August 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 145,331,600 | 1 |
| 2 | Indonesia | 31,425,840 | 8 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 28,770,560 | 2 |
| 4 | Turkey | 23,823,200 | 3 |
| 5 | France | 20,307,260 | 5 |
| 6 | Philippines | 18,768,040 | - |
| 7 | Mexico | 17,821,820 | - |
| 8 | Italy | 17,615,900 | 6 |
| 9 | Canada | 17,414,640 | 4 |
| 10 | India | 16,509,680 | - |
| 11 | Germany | 13,392,500 | - |
| 12 | Argentina | 12,081,440 | - |
| 13 | Spain | 12,060,780 | 9 |
| 14 | Colombia | 11,627,920 | 10 |
| 15 | Australia | 9,716,340 | 7 |
| 16 | Malaysia | 9,262,560 | - |
| 17 | Brazil | 8,176,820 | - |
| 18 | Taiwan | 8,125,880 | - |
| 19 | Chile | 7,470,780 | - |
| 20 | Venezuela | 7,451,020 | - |
Developing countries which lack the infrastructure to support internet access for the general population are understandably further down the table. However, evidence suggests that developing countries are likely to be the keenest adopters of web-based technology over the coming years, and there is certainly an appetite for social networking – so it is reasonable to expect a shift in positions in the future.
The table below shows 10 emerging economies which are rapidly moving up the chart by getting involved in social networking, and the rate of growth from May 2010 to November 2010. Singapore in particular falls just outside the top ten bracket when discussing percentage of population against number of profiles with 42.93% of the population using Facebook– and it’s likely to be making an appearance very soon with a growth rate of 14.84% since May 2010 to November 2010.
| Country | Profiles | Increase from May 2010 and Nov 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 2,458,900 | 14.84% |
| Chile | 7,470,780 | 8.09% |
| Macedonia | 737,780 | 4.39% |
| Guadeloupe | 157,680 | 19.74% |
| Guam | 67,880 | 21.95% |
| Turkey | 23,823,200 | 7.42% |
| Puerto Rico | 1,342,620 | 16.80% |
| Croatia | 1,259,520 | 4.35% |
| Uruguay | 1,012,480 | 24.60% |
| Venezuela | 7,451,020 | 15.03% |
This blog post was written by Lizzie Otway
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