Meta reports 3.58 billion daily active people across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp combined for December 2025, and Pew's 2026 survey has 78% of US adults aged 30 to 49 ever using Facebook. For news, 40% of US adults regularly get it there, ahead of YouTube at 34%, Pew found in August 2026.
Facebook is the biggest social platform for news among US adults, and only 31% of US teens use it, down from 71% in 2014-15. Both come from Pew, and they don't contradict each other. Together they describe a platform that's still strong with grown-ups and far weaker with teenagers than it used to be.
How many people use Facebook?
There's no one clean answer, and here's why. Meta's 10-K for 2025, filed with the SEC on 29 Jan 2026, reports 3.58 billion daily active people on average in December 2025, up 7% from 3.35 billion in December 2024. That counts Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp as one family. Meta says its estimate carries a margin of error of about 3%.
So if you're after Facebook user statistics, 3.58 billion is a family figure and has to be labelled that way. Writing "3.58 billion Facebook users" is wrong, and I'd treat any "3 billion Facebook users" claim as unsourced until someone shows you where it came from.
The Reuters Institute gives a share rather than a headcount: 67% of respondents use Facebook for any purpose, in its Digital News Report 2026, against 69% for YouTube. That's an average across markets, not a global population figure.
Who uses it in the US?
Pew asked 5,511 US adults between 30 Jan and 18 Jun 2026 whether they ever use Facebook, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 points. Pew's fact sheet breaks the answers down like this.
| Group | Share who ever use Facebook | Publisher, date |
|---|---|---|
| Aged 18 to 29 | 69% | Pew, 2026 |
| Aged 30 to 49 | 78% | Pew, 2026 |
| Aged 50 to 64 | 71% | Pew, 2026 |
| Aged 65 and over | 59% | Pew, 2026 |
| Women | 77% | Pew, 2026 |
| Men | 63% | Pew, 2026 |
| Rural | 76% | Pew, 2026 |
| Suburban | 69% | Pew, 2026 |
| Urban | 67% | Pew, 2026 |
| Republican or leaning Republican | 74% | Pew, 2026 |
| Democrat or leaning Democrat | 68% | Pew, 2026 |
Two things jump out. Rural adults use it more than urban adults, 76% against 67%. And income barely matters: from under $30,000 up to $100,000 and over, Pew's four bands read 69%, 72%, 70% and 70%. The 14-point gender gap is far bigger than anything income does.
Do people still go there for news?
Yes, and more than anywhere else social. Pew's Social Media and News Fact Sheet, from a survey of 5,166 US adults on 24 to 30 Aug 2026, has it like this.
- 40% of US adults regularly get news on Facebook. YouTube is at 34%, Instagram 23%, TikTok 20% and X 10%.
- 57% of Facebook's own users regularly get news there. X matches that at 57%, with TikTok at 53% and Instagram at 46%.
- 59% of US adults get news from social media at least sometimes, and 26% often.
Watch the bases. The 40% is a share of all US adults. The 57% is a share of people who already use Facebook. X has the same 57% among its users but only 10% of all adults, which is why the first number tells you about reach and the second tells you about habit.
Across 48 markets, the Reuters Institute has 43% using Facebook for news, "reversing recent declines". It says Meta's decision to raise news content may explain the resurgence. "May" is the Institute's own hedge, so keep it if you repeat the claim.
What happened to teenagers?
Pew's 2025 teen survey covered 1,458 US teens aged 13 to 17, from 25 Sep to 9 Oct 2025.
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| Measure | Then | Now |
|---|---|---|
| US teens who use Facebook | 71% (2014-15) | 31% (2025) |
The drop isn't a recent event, though. Pew says 31% is about the same as 2022. If you write "teens are leaving Facebook", you're describing something that had largely happened by 2022.
Only 20% of teens visit it daily and 3% say they use it almost constantly. Household income splits teens in a way it doesn't split adults: 46% of teens in homes under $30,000 use Facebook, 39% at $30,000 to $74,999, and 27% at $75,000 and over.
What Meta earns
- Total revenue: $200.97 billion in 2025, up 22% from $164.5 billion. Ad impressions rose 12% and average price per ad rose 9%.
- Billed to US and Canada addresses: $78.87 billion, from $63.2 billion in 2024.
- Europe: $46.6 billion. Asia-Pacific: $53.8 billion.
Every line there covers Meta as a whole, from the same 10-K. It isn't Facebook revenue, so don't caption it as if it were.
Facebook's numbers mean more beside its rivals, so I've also set out YouTube statistics and Instagram statistics.
What else people ask about Facebook
Does Facebook have 3 billion users?
Meta's 10-K doesn't report that. The figure it gives is 3.58 billion daily active people across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp combined, so a 3 billion Facebook-only claim can't be sourced to that number.
Do more women or men use Facebook?
Women, by a clear margin in the US: Pew has 77% of women and 63% of men ever using it in 2026.
Are teens leaving Facebook?
Most of that fall has already happened. Pew has 31% of US teens using it in 2025, down from 71% in 2014-15, but about the same as in 2022.
Is Facebook more popular with higher earners?
Not among US adults. Pew's 2026 figures run 69%, 72%, 70% and 70% across its income bands. Among teens it goes the other way: 46% in households under $30,000, 27% at $75,000 and over.
Using each figure safely
- Global scale: 3.58 billion, always with "daily, across Meta's four apps, December 2025".
- US audience: Pew's 78% for 30 to 49s and 59% for 65 and over. I think these are the most useful numbers here for a marketing decision, because they tell you who you'd reach.
- News reach: 40% for US adults, 43% for a 48-market average. Never merge them. Pew counts US adults, Reuters averages markets.
- The teen story: 71% to 31%, with both years shown. Remember the teen data is 2025 and the adult data is 2026.
