WeChat allows users to message their loved ones, make payments, share work files, and more. It has been described as China’s “app for everything.”
Although immensely popular in China, WeChat has a pretty good portion of its users spread outside of China.
Its user base has grown tremendously over the past years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the number of users jumped by 61 million.
Let’s take a detailed look at the facts and figures related to WeChat users, usage, revenue, WeChat Pay stats, WeChat Work stats, and more in this article.
WeChat Statistics 2024: Top Picks
- 1.36 Billion People Worldwide Use WeChat as of Q1 2024.
- WeChat is the 6th most popular social media platform worldwide.
- Chinese users spent an average of 79 minutes and 42 seconds on WeChat in 2023.
- WeChat generated an annual revenue of $16.38 million in 2023.
- WeChat generated over $30.33 million in-app purchase revenue in 2024 as of May 2024.
- WeChat Pay Had 935 Million Users In 2023.
- The WeChat mini program has 945 million monthly users in China as of Q1 2024.
- Around 65 million companies used WeChat Work in 2023.
How Many People Use WeChat?
1) 1.36 Billion People Worldwide Used WeChat as of Q1 2024.
That was a 3% YoY increase compared to the 1.32 billion monthly active users recorded as of Q1 2023 and a 1% QoQ increase compared to the 1.34 billion users recorded at the end of 2023.
Besides, the monthly active users of WeChat increased by 2.3% between 2022 and 2023.
The app witnessed huge user growth between 2019 and 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic and the following lockdown fueled this growth.
Here are further details about the number of monthly active WeChat users recorded over the past years.
| Year | WeChat’s Monthly Active Users | YoY Increase |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 (Q1) | 1.36 billion | 3% |
| 2023 | 1.34 billion | 2.3% |
| 2022 | 1.31billion | .5% |
| 2021 | 1.27 billion | 3.5% |
| 2020 | 1.22 billion | 5.2% |
| 2019 | 1.16 billion | 6.1% |
| 2018 | 1.1 billion | 11% |
| 2017 | 0.99 billion | 11.2% |
Source: Statista, Tecent, Oberlo.
WeChat Gender Demographics
2) 52% Of The WeChat Users Were Male, While 48% Of Users Were Female as of 2023.
Most WeChat users worldwide were recorded as male. However, there is no huge difference in the share of male and female WeChat users.
Source: Statista
WeChat Age Demographics
3) 36% Of The WeChat Users In China Are Aged Under 30 Years.
Meanwhile, 22.7% of the WeChat users in China were over 51 years old.
Here is a table displaying the distribution of WeChat users by age as of 2022.
| Age | Share of WeChat Users |
|---|---|
| Under 24 years old | 22.3% |
| 25 to 30 years old | 13.7% |
| 31 to 40 years old | 22% |
| 41 to 50 years old | 19.2% |
| Over 51 years old | 22.7% |
Source: Statista
WeChat Users By Country
4) 810 million people in China use WeChat.
The majority of WeChat users were in China as of 2023.
At the same time, Malaysia had 12 million WeChat users, and India had 10 million users.
WeChat is still popular outside of China, and many people use the app in other parts of the world to communicate with loved ones and friends who reside in China.
Here is a table displaying the number of WeChat users recorded in different countries worldwide as of 2023.
| Top Country | The Number of WeChat Users |
|---|---|
| China | 810 million |
| Malaysia | 12 million |
| India | 10 million |
| Russia | 9.5 million |
| Japan | 5.5 million |
| South Korea | 5 million |
| The United States | 4 million |
| Indonesia | 3 million |
| Mexico | 2.5 million |
| Thailand | 2.5 million |
| Brazil | 2 million |
Source: World Population Review
WeChat Revenue
5) WeChat Generated an annual revenue of $16.38 million in 2023.
That was a decrease of 0.85% or 0.06 million compared to $16.44 million in revenue in 2022.
WeChat revenue peaked in 2021 when it registered an annual revenue of $17.49 billion.
Besides, the revenue jumped by nearly 4 million in 2020, the highest increase compared to other years.
The following table shows the annual revenue of WeChat recorded over the years:
| Year | WeChat Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2023 | $16.38 million |
| 2022 | $16.44 million |
| 2021 | $17.49 billion |
| 2020 | $16.15 billion |
| 2019 | $12.28 billion |
| 2018 | $10.85 billion |
| 2017 | $8.37 billion |
| 2016 | $5.52 billion |
| 2015 | $3.6 billion |
Please note that this encompasses all of Tencent’s social media revenue.
Source: Business Of Apps
WeChat In-App Purchases
6) WeChat Generated Over $30.33 Million in In-app purchase revenue In 2024 As Of May.
Meanwhile, in 2023, the In-app purchase revenue of WeChat was recorded to be $71.39 million, an increase of 6.31% compared to 67.15 million recorded in 2022.
Here is a table displaying further details about the revenue generated by the in-app purchases on WeChat.
| Year | WeChat IAP Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2024 (As of May) | $30.33 million |
| 2023 | $71.39 million |
| 2022 | $67.15 million |
| 2021 | $50.32 million |
| 2020 | $3.85 million |
| 2019 | $1.13 million |
Source: Statista
WeChat Pay Stats
7) WeChat Pay Had 935 Million Users In 2023.
That was an increase of 15 million users compared to 920 million users recorded in 2022.
WeChat Pay is China’s most commonly used digital payment option, and a large share of WeChat users in the country prefer it.
Here is a table displaying the WeChat Pay users over the years:
| Year | Monthly Active Users of WeChat Pay |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 935 million |
| 2022 | 920 million |
| 2021 | 900 million |
| 2020 | 865 million |
| 2019 | 800 million |
| 2018 | 720 million |
| 2017 | 600 million |
| 2016 | 430 million |
Source: Business Of Apps
WeChat Mini Programs Statistics
Chinese apps have found their own way to keep users engaged and make them stick around.
One of the core tactics is to build mini-applications within the core app.
This section highlights some of the latest figures related to WeChat Mini Programs.
8) The WeChat Mini Program Has 945 Million Monthly Users In China As Of Q1 2024.
That means over 90% of the WeChat users were using the mini services on the platform as of March 2024.
The number of WeChat Mini Program users grew by 2.38% in Q1 2024 compared to 923 million users recorded in Q4 of 2023.
Here is a table displaying the number of monthly active users recorded for WeChat Mini Programs over the years.
| Year | WeChat Mini Programs Users |
|---|---|
| 2024 (Q1) | 945 million |
| 2023 | 923 million |
| 2022 | 921 million |
| 2021 | 921 million |
| 2020 | 832 million |
Source: Statista
9) WeChat Users Spend An Average Of 68.1 Minutes On Mini-Programs.
The launch of Mini Programs has seen the company’s annual transactions rise by more than 600% in foreign business.
WeChat Mini Programs is a cloud-based sub-application within the WeChat ecosystem.
On average, WeChat users spend 68.1 minutes using Mini Programs, while those who use Mini Programs for mobile gaming spend even more time on the platform.
Source: Statista
WeChat Work Stats
WeChat Work, also known as WeCom, is a remote working solution created by Tencent. Remote workers use weChat work to communicate with each other, share documents, and much more.
Let’s take a look at the number of WeChat work users recorded over the years.
10) Around 65 Million Companies Used WeChat Work In 2023.
Comparatively, WeChat Work had 70 million active users in 2022. That shows a decline of 5 million users or 7.14% in the number of WeChat Work users between 2022 and 2023.
In 2021, the platform boasted 75 million active users, with its user base doubling as more people adapted to working-from-home setups.
This table shows WeChat Work’s active users recorded over the years.
| Year | Monthly Active Users of WeChat Work |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 65 million |
| 2022 | 70 million |
| 2021 | 75 million |
| 2020 | 70 million |
| 2019 | 60 million |
| 2018 | 45 million |
| 2017 | 30 million |
Source: Business of Apps
WeChat Official Account Statistics
WeChat Official Accounts are verified accounts that businesses and organizations can use to interact with customers. These accounts are also known as public accounts.
Let’s take a look at some of the latest statistics related to WeChat official accounts.
11) Over 25 Million Active WeChat Accounts Are Official Accounts.
WeChat official accounts help brands promote content, attract followers, and connect the account to a mini-site hosted within WeChat.
As the number of WeChat users in China who access the platform as their main information source increases, more brands are starting to leverage WeChat for business.
Source: Croud
12) 54% Of WeChat Users Spend Up To 30 Minutes Following Official Accounts.
Almost 49.3% of WeChat users follow 10-20 Official WeChat Accounts. While 24% follow less than 20 accounts, and 20% of users follow 20 to 30 accounts.
News and promotions are the major reasons people follow WeChat’s official accounts.
74.2% of users said the primary reason they follow any Official Account is for news, while 41.9% do so for promotions.
Source: Statista, Blogging Wizard, 99firms
WeChat User Behaviour
WeChat is primarily used for financial transactions in China. In this section, we will explore its various important uses worldwide.
13) Chinese Users Spent An Average Time Of 79 Minutes And 42 Seconds On WeChat In 2023.
The time spent by WeChat users on the platform declined from 82 minutes and 36 seconds recorded in Q2 2023 to 79 minutes and 42 seconds in Q3 2023.
Meanwhile, in Q2 2022, users spent an average of 82 minutes on WeChat.
Source: Statista
14) Over 45 Billion Messages Are Sent By WeChat Users Daily.
WeChat users are now sending an average of 45 billion messages per day.
Additionally, the platform facilitates approximately 410 million audio and video calls daily. These figures indicate that WeChat’s usage has increased sixfold compared to 2016.
15) 68 Million Videos Are Uploaded Daily By WeChat Users Worldwide.
The application has become a significant rival to Snapchat and YouTube.
Although it still has a way to match YouTube’s 300 hours of uploaded video content per minute (as YouTube does not disclose such data), video content has undoubtedly become one of the platform’s most popular offerings among its diverse services.
Note: For more statistics related to YouTube, please check out this article
16) WeChat Users Use The App 9 To 11 Times Per Day.
60% of users use WeChat almost ten times a day.
WeChat has impressive engagement rates, with over 60% of its users opening the app more than ten times daily.
According to WeChat statistics, 21% of users open the app more than 50 times daily.
17) Utilizing WeChat Has Decreased Hospital Wait Times By An Average Of 43.6 Minutes.
China’s healthcare system has been criticized for its inefficiencies, but modern technology is helping to alleviate some of these issues.
Currently, 40% of health institutions in China are utilizing WeChat in some capacity, such as communicating news and updates with patients, making online appointments, and sharing the availability of doctors.
Additionally, the app is also used for online appointments and fee payments.
How Does WeChat Stand Among Other Social Media?
18) WeChat is the sixth most popular social media platform as of Q1 2024.
In 2023, It was the fifth most popular social media platform. However, TikTok overtook WeChat and became the fifth most popular social media network, with 1.58 billion monthly active users.
Facebook held the top position with 3.06 billion users.
The following table displays the top social media networks by monthly active users.
| Social Media Network | Monthly Active Users |
|---|---|
| 3.06 billion | |
| YouTube | 2.50 billion |
| 2.00 billion | |
| 2.00 billion | |
| TikTok | 1.58 billion |
| 1.36 billion | |
| Facebook Messanger | 1.01 billion |
| Telegram | 900 million |
| Snapchat | 800 million |
| Douyin | 755 million |
| Kuaishou | 700 million |
| X/Twitter | 611 million |
| 598 million |
Source: Statista
Conclusion: WeChat Has 1.36 Billion Users As Of Q1 2024
With that, WeChat has become the 6th most preferred social media app worldwide. However, over three-fourths of its users are from China, and most people in other countries use it to contact their friends and family in China.
Since WeChat is the most used social media app in China, most businesses use it to reach their audience and increase sales.
WeChat is set to grow further in the upcoming years, especially in China, due to the ban on the usage of WhatsApp and Instagram.
