China Leads the TikTok Charge

According to company sources, TikTok has surpassed the mark of one billion monthly users for the first time. This comes as no surprise, as the coronavirus pandemic was responsible for an immense growth spurt in the first half of 2020. Although the app has become a worldwide powerhouse, its still most successful on its home turf.

As our chart shows, China is by far the country with the most people regularly using TikTok. 72 percent of respondents to the Statista Global Consumer Survey conducted in 56 countries said they used Douyin, the Chinese version of the app, at least once over the last 12 months. The high usage rate in the People's Republic might be one of the factors leading to China's crackdown on internet usage and online game consumption by minors. In a recent tightening of regulations, the Asian country effectively banned live streaming for any resident under the age of 16. Lagging behind considerably on the second and third spots are Brazil and Mexico with 40 and 37 percent of participants claiming they opened the app one or more times over the last year, while the UK and the United Kingdom share seventh place with 24 percent.

In the first and second quarters of 2020 alone, TikTok and Douyin were downloaded roughly 616 million times. Overall, the social media app generated over two billion first-time downloads across the App Store and Google Play.