India Is Now Facebook’s Largest Audience, Knocking U.S. To Second Place

Facebook reported to its advertisers that India has overtaken the United States to become the platform’s largest country audience.

According to The Next Web, as of July 13, Facebook is reporting a total “potential audience” of 241 million active users in India, compared with 240 million in the United States. Facebook also recently announced it has more than 2 billion monthly users around the world.

These new figures suggest that active users in India are growing more than twice as fast as they are in the United States, with active users in India up 27 percent in the last six months alone (+50 million), compared with growth of 12 percent (+26 million) in the United States over the same period.

But the numbers Facebook reports to advertisers can change daily, and the platform even reported a slight dip in global user numbers just before it announced its 2 billion milestone.

In addition, a report shows that social media penetration in India remains relatively low, with just 19 percent of the country’s total population using Facebook in the last month. That compares with 73 percent in the United States, and a global average of around 42 percent.

It’s also interesting to note the gender imbalance with Facebook users in India. Men represent three-quarters of the country’s active Facebook profiles (although it’s been noted that this represents reported gender). In the United States, 54 percent of the platform’s active users are women. And Facebook’s active users in India tend to be on the younger side, with more than half of the country’s users below the age of 25. But as residents in India gain access to more Internet-connected smartphones, it’s likely these discrepancies will start to even out.