Pakistan Social Media & Creator Economy Statistics

Pakistan's social media landscape has grown fast, but reliable, Pakistan-specific data on the creator economy specifically is much harder to find than global or regional figures — this article separates what's well-documented (platform usage, internet penetration) from what isn't (a Pakistan-specific creator-economy market size), rather than filling the gap with an estimate.

Internet and connectivity in Pakistan

117 million individuals were using the internet in Pakistan at the end of 2025, an online penetration rate of 45.6% (DataReportal, Digital 2026: Pakistan report). 194 million cellular mobile connections were active in Pakistan in late 2025, equivalent to 75.9% of the total population (DataReportal) — though this figure includes voice/SMS-only connections, not all of which include internet access. 79.9 million social media user identities were recorded in Pakistan as of October 2025, equal to 31.2% of the population (DataReportal).

Social media users by platform

Facebook — 67,980,000 users in Pakistan as of March 2026, 28.7% of the population, majority male (75.7%) (NapoleonCat)

Instagram — 24,003,700 users as of March 2026, 10.1% of the population, majority male (64%), with the 18-24 age group the largest segment (NapoleonCat)

Messenger — 53,897,400 users as of March 2026, 22.7% of the population (NapoleonCat)

TikTok — reported by multiple sources as Pakistan's largest platform by active user count, with one estimate placing active users aged 18+ at 66.9 million in early 2025 (The Design Firm, citing industry data)

A note on TikTok's exact figure: unlike Facebook and Instagram, TikTok doesn't publish country-level user counts as consistently, so estimates vary more between sources than the Meta-platform figures above, which are drawn from Meta's own ad-reach data via NapoleonCat.

What this means for platform strategy

Facebook remains the platform with the broadest reach in Pakistan and offers relatively low-cost advertising (reported CPC around PKR 10-400 and CPM around PKR 150-1,100, per Digital Pakistan's 2026 guide, though these figures will vary by audience and season). Instagram and TikTok skew toward younger, urban audiences and short-form video content. WhatsApp plays a distinct role as what one local digital marketing guide describes as the "conversion layer" — less a discovery platform and more where inquiries, product catalogs, and order confirmations actually happen once a customer is already interested.

What's not yet well-documented: Pakistan's creator economy market size

Global and regional creator economy market-size figures are widely published — multiple research firms estimate the global market between roughly $205 billion and $250+ billion for 2024-2025, growing toward $1+ trillion within the next decade (see Creator Economy Growth: $250B to $1.18T for the full global breakdown). A reliable, independently-sourced Pakistan-specific breakdown of that market — total influencer marketing ad spend, number of full-time creators, average creator earnings — was not available at the time of writing. Treat any specific Pakistan-only dollar figure you encounter elsewhere with caution unless it names a primary source.

Related terms

See Top Influencer Niches & Rates in Pakistan for what is known about creator rates in the market, and Influencer Marketing for Pakistani FMCG & Finance Brands for how these platform dynamics apply to specific verticals.

Frequently asked questions

Why do different sources report different Pakistan social media user numbers?

Methodology differences — some figures (like NapoleonCat's) come from platforms' own advertising-audience tools, which measure ad-reachable accounts rather than strictly unique human users, while others come from survey-based estimates. Treat small variances between sources as normal rather than a sign either figure is wrong.

Is Facebook or TikTok bigger in Pakistan?

Sources disagree on this specifically — Facebook has the more consistently documented user count (NapoleonCat, based on Meta's ad-reach data), while several industry sources describe TikTok as having overtaken it in active users, though TikTok doesn't publish comparably standardized country data. Both platforms are worth including in a Pakistan strategy regardless of which is technically larger.

The bottom line

Pakistan's social media base is large and growing, with roughly 80 million social media users and 117 million internet users as of late 2025 — solid, sourced numbers to plan around. Its creator economy specifically, in terms of market size and spend, remains under-documented compared to global figures, which is worth knowing before citing any specific Pakistan-only dollar estimate you find elsewhere.