Telegram’s popularity has soared in recent years. In fact, many WhatsApp users switched to Telegram to take advantage of its robust privacy features.
As of today, Telegram has more than 700 million Monthly Active Users and thousands of channels for various purposes.
In this post, we will explore Telegram’s growth, its most popular features, and its user demographics. We will also discuss how businesses can use Telegram for their benefit. By the end of this post, you will have a better understanding of how Telegram is used by people around the world.
So, let’s get into it, shall we?
Telegram Corporation at a glance
Telegram is an instant messaging service that runs on cloud-based technology and was founded by Nikolai Durov (co-founder), and Pavel Durov (cofounder, CEO). It was released on 14th Aug 2013 for iOS and in Oct 2013 for Android. Telegram’s servers are located across the globe to reduce frequent data loads, with 5 data centers in various locations and an operating center in Dubai, UAE.
The Telegram development team is presently situated in the UAE, Dubai.
Telegram FZ-LLC, a company based in the United Arab Emirates, is the company behind the Telegram smartphone app.
Telegram’s parent firm (Telegram Group Inc.) has its legal address in the British Virgin Islands.
Telegram UK Holdings Ltd, situated in the United Kingdom, is the legal representation for data protection regulations.
Telegram Statistics: Editor’s Pick
- Telegram has 700 million monthly active users as per the official data and projects over 1 billion users by 2024.
- 55.2 million use the messaging app daily. that is 7.88% of the MAUs.
- Over 15 billion messages are sent over telegram every day.
- Telegram was downloaded 430 million times in 2021 taking the all-time download tally to 1 billion.
- Telegram is among the top-5 downloaded apps worldwide.
- An average telegram user spends almost 3 hours on the application every month.
- Telegram users account for 8.7% of the world population.
- Telegram is valued at around $30 billion as of February 2023.
- Telegram is the world’s 8th most popular social platform globally.
- Telegram is funded by 5 investors. Mubadala and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners are the most recent investors.
Telegram Monthly Active Users
- According to corporate figures, Telegram has 700 million monthly active users. That is a 40% rise since the beginning of 2021.
- Over the last three and a half years, Telegram has gained 350 million new users.
- In January 2021, 25 million new users joined Telegram in just 72 hours. This works out to around 8.33 million new signups every day.
- In fact, since its inception in 2013, Telegram’s user base has grown at a pace of more than 40% every year.
Below is the complete overview of the Telegram MAUs since 2014:
| DATE | Telegram MAU (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 |
| December 2022 | 700 Million |
Sources: (Telegram, Statista)
Telegram Daily Active Users
- According to the most recent data, Telegram has 55.2 million daily active users (DAUs). Since November 2020, this number has risen by more than 30%.
- Telegram had an estimated 15 million DAUs as of March 2014.
- During the Facebook and Instagram downtime on October 4th, 2021, Telegram reported a surge of 70 million users in a single day.
Source: (Telegram, Apptopia, and Techcrunch)
Usage time of Telegram users
- Telegram’s typical Android user spends 2.9 (Almost 3) hours every month using the application.
- On average, Russian users spend around 5.1 hours every month on Telegram, which is the most by any country! Users in Singapore are in second place with an average of 4.7 hours.
Here is a table showing monthly time spent on Telegram per user in selected markets worldwide:
| Country | Average Time Spent on Telegram |
|---|---|
| Russia | 5.1 hours |
| Singapore | 4.7 hours |
| Germany | 3 hours |
| India | 2.2 hours |
| Worldwide | 3 hours |
- Telegram’s average usage time is marginally more than the 2.7 hours/month spent on Meta’s Facebook Messenger.
Telegram Demographics
- Over 31% of Telegram users are between the ages of 25 – 34.
Users between the age of 18 to 24 make up 22% of Telegram’s user base.
Here is a table showing the distribution of Telegram users by age group:
| Age Group | Share of Users |
|---|---|
| Up to 17 | 7.7% |
| 18 to 24 | 21.9% |
| 25 to 34 | 30.6% |
| 35 to 44 | 21.3% |
| 45 to 64 | 18.5% |
- Telegram has 58.6% male and 41.4% female users as of 2023.
- 38% of Telegram’s users are based in Asia, 27% in Europe, 21% from Latin America, and 8% from the Middle East and North Africa.
- Back in January 2021, when Telegram was the most downloaded application all over the world. India had the most installations, with 24%, followed by Indonesia, with 10%.
- In the year 2020, Telegram was the top downloaded social media app across 20 countries.
- Telegram was used by only 1.4% of American users (according to a 2018 report).
- Telegram is used by 29.4% of Brazilians.
- Telegram presently has 18 million users in Uzbekistan.
- In Hong Kong, lifetime installations have risen to over 1.8 million.
Telegram Downloads
- With 70.48 million downloads, India is the country with the most Telegram Downloads.
Here is a table showing the countries with the most Telegram downloads in 2023:
| Country | Number of Downloads |
|---|---|
| India | 70.48 million |
| Russia | 24.15 million |
| United States | 20.03 million |
| Indonesia | 19.61 million |
| Brazil | 18.04 million |
| Egypt | 11.05 million |
| Mexico | 8.33 million |
| Ukraine | 7.02 million |
| Vietnam | 6.95 million |
| Turkey | 6.48 million |
| Philippines | 6.31 million |
| Nigeria | 5.45 million |
| France | 5.08 million |
| Kazakhstan | 4.84 million |
| Malaysia | 4.65 million |
| Colombia | 4.49 million |
| Saudi Arabia | 4 million |
| Germany | 3.88 million |
| Spain | 3.84 million |
| Argentina | 3.65 million |
North and South America Specific Statistics
- The telegram penetration rate in the United States reached 3% in 2020. improvement from 2019, when the rate was just 1.85%. (Statista)
- 10 Million People from the United States of America access telegram on a monthly basis. (statista)
- 23% of Brazilians use Telegram on a daily basis. (Mobile Time)
- Only 3% of Brazilian respondents indicated they had never used Telegram. (Mobile Time)
- 5% of Canadians use Telegram on a regular basis. (statista)
Telegram Europe-Specific Statistics
- 8% of Netherlands people use Telegram. In contrast, only 3% of UK Citizens use Telegram.
- With 7 million downloads, Ukraine has the most number of Telegram downloads in Europe as of August 2022. (statista)
- In Italy, Telegram has a 32% penetration rate. (Statista)
- 25% of the Spanish population uses Telegram on a regular basis. (Statista)
- Telegram is used by 32% of Spanish millennials. (Elogia)
- In Austria, 11% of the population uses Telegram. (Statista)
- Telegram is used by 6% of Nordic Finland users. (Statista)
Telegram Asia Pacific Statistics
- Telegram has 31.62 million Monthly Active Users in Russia. (VimpelCom)
- Telegram is used by 3.9% of South Koreans on a regular basis. (Ministry of Science and Information Technology)
- 40% of Telegram users from Moscow were between the ages of 25 and 34. (VimpelCom)
- Telegram has a 4% penetration rate in Australia (Statista)
- In Singapore, Telegram has a penetration rate of 30.1 percent. (DataReportal)
- Telegram has a 22% penetration rate in the Philippines. (DataReportal)
- 9% of Taiwanese use Telegram. (DataReportal)
- 13.8% of people in hong kong use Telegram (We Are Social)
- Telegram is used by 28.5% of Indonesians. (DataReportal)
- telegram application has been downloaded over 71.28 million times in India.
African Statistics
- 56.3% of Nigerians use Telegram (DataReportal)
- 19.7% of South Africans use Telegram (DataReportal)
- 40.8% Ghanaians use Telegram (DataReportal)
Telegram Availability
Telegram is available across platforms like Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web platform
- Telegram is available in 155 countries as of 2023.
- Telegram is accessible to Google Play Store users in all 155 Nations.
- Telegram is available in 52 Nations on the Windows Store.
Source: (Appfigures)
Telegram Feature statistics
- Telegram has over 20,000 stickers.
- Telegram is available in 58 languages.
- Telegram spends 0$ on advertising.
Telegram Channel Statistics
Telegram Introduced the channel feature in 2015, and it has boomed since.
- Channel named “Telegram Tips” is the most popular channel on the platform.
Below is the overview of the most popular channels on Telegram:
| Channel Names | Number of Followers (in Millions) |
|---|---|
| Telegram Tips | 7.5 |
| Telegram News | 6.1 |
| Bollywood HD Movies Latest | 4.1 |
| Proxy MTProto | 3.3 |
| Crypto Trading Bitcoin | 2.9 |
| Bitcoin News Crypto and Technical Analyst | 2.8 |
| F*CKTS | 2.1 |
| Movies Temple | 2.1 |
| Amir Tataloo | 1.9 |
| MyPoroxy | 1.8 |
Source: (Telegram Analytics)
Most Popular Channel Categories
- Movies
- crypto
- tv series
- news
- music
- humor
- education
- trading
- betting
- Telegram Proxy
Here is a table showing the most popular categories on Telegram:
| Channel Category | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| News related | 82% |
| Entertainment related | 59% |
| Politically related | 59% |
| Education-related | 55% |
| News from own industry-related | 43% |
| bloggers and celebrities related | 27% |
| Personal channels of friends | 27% |
| products and discounts related | 16% |
| job offers related | 15% |
| Internal channels of companies | 13% |
| Channels of brands companies | 11% |
| Darkweb related | 8% |
Source: (Statista)
Here is a table showing the most followed Political Leaders on Telegram:
| Leaders | Number of Subscribers |
|---|---|
| Jair M. Bolsonaro (President of Brazil) | 1,000,000 |
| Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (President of Turkey) | 277,300 |
| Shavkat Mirziyoyev (President of Uzbekistan) | 181,100 |
| Andrés Manuel López Obrador (President of Mexico) | 136,000 |
| Abiy Ahmed Ali (Prime Minister of Ethiopia) | 137,400 |
| Volodymyr Zelensky (President of Ukraine) | 51,700 |
| Lee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister of Singapore) | 19,600 |
- Telegram’s stats function is only available to channels with 1,000 or more users. (Medium)
- Knygy ukrainskoyu is Ukraine’s most popular book telegram channel. There were 400.66k engagements in all. (Ukrainian Book Institute)
- AndroHack is Russia’s most popular gaming and book-related channel. 817.1k people signed up for it.
- Prior to being deactivated, an organization using a Nazi flag as its symbol had 10,000 members. (TechCrunch)
- Telegram has removed 15 terrorist channels. ( NBC News)
- The Telegram statistics channel reveals that channel owners can add only the first 200 users. (Telegram)
- According to the Telegram statistics bot, cryptocurrency-related channels have the most bots (1,001). (Telegram)
Telegram Usage by Country
- Here is a list of each country’s usage of Telegram in the social networking section of the iOS App Store.
| Nation | Rank in Nation amongst other social media |
|---|---|
| United States | 2 |
| United Kingdom | 2 |
| Australia | 4 |
| Germany | 1 |
| Netherlands | 2 |
| Russia | 1 |
| India | 2 |
| Brazil | 1 |
| Malaysia | 1 |
Telegram E-commerce Related Statistics
- Telegram’s most popular product category is Chinese goods, followed by digital equipment and consumer loans. The total e-commerce of Chinese items via the social networking site topped $12 million. (statista)
- Telegram is used to swap consumer loans. The sales in this category have a value of $3.1 million (Admitad)
- Food delivery has the lowest amount of sales, yet it still generates $57,000. (Admitad)
- 31% of Spanish internet users use Telegram for online shopping. (IAB Spain)
- The Telegram Payments 2.0 functionality accepts 84 different currencies. (Telegram)
- The minimum and maximum exchange amounts were $1 and $10,000, respectively. (Telegram)
Telegram Revenue Statistics
- In October 2022, in-app purchases generated over $1 million in income for Telegram.
Below is a table showing Telegram’s revenue from June 2022 to October 2022:
| Time | Revenue |
|---|---|
| June 2022 | $218,000 |
| July 2022 | $399,000 |
| August 2022 | $678,000 |
| September 2022 | $844,000 |
| October 2022 | $1,018,000 |
- Telegram’s own blockchain-based cryptocurrency, Gram, was shut down in 2020 after the firm failed to register an early $1.7 billion token sale. (The Verge)
- In 2018, Telegram received $1.7 billion to support its aim to commercialize the network. (TechCrunch)
- After a disagreement with the app’s cryptocurrency company, the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined Telegram $18.5 million. (MarketWatch)
- Telegram had to repay $1.2 billion to its investors as part of the civil penalty. (MarketWatch)
- Telegram would have had profits worth $4 billion if the Information technology department hadn’t phased out Gram (cryptocurrency).
Telegram Security based statistics
- IP address, mobile number, contacts list, and user ID are the four things that Telegram gathers and relates back to users. (Business Insider)
- A deep fake bot targeted 680,000+ females, many of whom were under the age of 18. (Business Insider)
- Around 70% of the deep fake bot users were located in or near Russia. (Business Insider)
- 3.77% of malware camouflaged as an internet communication solution was spread through Telegram. (Securelist)
- In Singapore, Telegram was used in 2.1% of eCommerce-related frauds as of 2020.
- Telegram is one of the safest apps declared by many organizations, and that is why many extremist groups use it
Telegram Web Statistics
Telegram Web is a web-based version of the Telegram messaging app. It allows you to access your Telegram chats and contacts from any web browser, without having to install any software. Telegram Web is fully synchronized with your mobile app, so you can seamlessly switch between devices.
Here are some amazing statistics associated with Telegram Web:
- Telegram Web received 247.2 million visitors in the month of June 2023.
here is a table showing the history of the last 3 months:
| Year | Visitors |
|---|---|
| June 2023 | 247.2 million |
| May 2023 | 250.2 million |
| April 2023 | 230.4 million |
- Telegram Web gets the majority of its traffic (27.30%) from Russia. Ukraine and India follow with 6.64% and 5.56 respectively.
Here is a table showing the list of countries that send the most traffic to Telegram Web:
| Country | Share of Traffic |
|---|---|
| Russia | 27.30% |
| Ukraine | 6.64% |
| India | 5.56% |
| Italy | 4.32% |
| Brazil | 3.96% |
| Others | 52.22% |
- Youtube is the social media that sends the most traffic to Telegram Web. Second, on the list is Whatsapp.
Here is a table showing the top social media sending the most traffic to Telegram Web:
| Social Media Platform | Share of Traffic |
|---|---|
| Youtube | 46.07% |
| 18.91% | |
| VKontakte | 14.24% |
| 6.90% | |
| 4.13% | |
| Others | 9.76% |
Who Is The Owner Of Telegram
- The owner of Telegram is Pavel Durov. He is a Russian-born French-Emirati entrepreneur who is also known for founding the social networking site VK.
Durov founded Telegram in 2013 with his brother Nikolai Durov. The app was designed to be a secure and private messaging platform that would not be subject to government censorship. Telegram has since become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world.
Most Expensive Telegram Usernames Sold (To Date)
- “@news” is the most expensive Telegram username sold on the auction platform Fragment in November 2022,
The username was sold for 994 thousand Toncoin, which is equivalent to around 2.415 million U.S. dollars.
Note: TON (Telegram Open Network) coin is a digital cryptocurrency that was originally developed for use within the Telegram messaging app. It was created by the team behind Telegram, led by Pavel Durov. TON was intended to be used as a means of payment for services and products within the Telegram ecosystem, but the project was eventually abandoned due to regulatory issues. However, TON coins are still traded on various cryptocurrency exchanges
Here is a table showing the most expensive Telegram usernames sold to date:
| Username | Price |
|---|---|
| @news | 2.415 million |
| @auto | 2.187 million |
| @bank | 2.066 million |
| @avia | 1.944 million |
| @chat | 1.701 million |
| @king | 1.640 milion |
| @fifa | 1.458 million |
| @game | 1.215 million |
| @sber | 1.145 million |
Miscellaneous Telegram Statistics
Here are some more interesting facts and figures associated with Telegram as of 2023.
- Telegram had a 34% download share of leading mobile messaging and chat apps globally.
- https://web.telegram.org/ had 240.9 million visits in March 2023. Most of the traffic was from Russia (23.84%)
Telegram Launches Its Premium Subscription!
Many users are expressing a desire to assist Telegram in any manner as it continues to develop at an exponential rate. As a result, the messaging platform is introducing Telegram Premium. This paid subscription allows users to support Telegram’s ongoing development while also giving the user access to premium extra features.
Telegram will be able to provide all the resource-intensive features users have requested over time while maintaining free access to the pre-existing features.
By subscribing to Telegram Premium, users unlock:
- doubled limits
- 4 GB file uploads
- faster downloads
- exclusive stickers & reactions,
- improved chat management
- and much more.
More Stats Data:
- 62+ Affiliate Marketing Statistics
- 36+ Quora Statistics
- 65+ Instagram Statistics
- 40+ Chatbot Statistics
Conclusion: Telegram Statistics
People who are against these big tech giants exploiting users’ privacy are opting for Telegram. People use Telegram to get end-to-end encryption, a message self-destructs mechanism and a security feature that prevents users from forwarding messages and other material. Users are certain that their data is their own as a result of this.
What makes Telegram appealing to those who value privacy also makes it appealing to persons and organizations who want to conduct covert operations. Nonetheless, you don’t have to worry about such activities as long as you are joining safe channels and texting official and verified accounts.
As Telegram continues to develop, It is spreading rapidly across the globe. We’ll see even more incredible data regarding it in the future and we will make sure to update it here on this post.
Sources
