WeChat Users and Transactions Statistics (2024)

Key WeChat user stats. Includes data on WeChat's valuation, transaction volume, user numbers, products and more.
WeChat Users and Transactions Statistics (2024)
Last updated on:
December 29, 2023
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WeChat Interesting Key Facts

  • As of the second quarter of 2022, WeChat has an astonishing 1.3 billion users.
  • More than 70% of China’s population are using WeChat.
  • On August 6, 2020, Trump banned WeChat and Tiktok from U.S.A.
  • On June 09, 2021, Biden signed an executive order revoking the ban on WeChat and Tiktok.
  • In 2014, partnered with Spring Festival Gala, WeChat introduced “Shake your Booty” wherein users would shake their phone in order to win red envelopes. The number of shakes achieved a total frequency of 11 billion and a peak of 810 million per minute!
  • The Red Envelope War is an on going financial battle between Tencent and Alibaba. It’s a showdown that reaches it peak on every Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve. The two companies would present to the people how many red envelopes were sent that year on their platforms and how much its worth.
  • This financial battle was started in 2014 when Tencent, a social media company, suddenly shifted it’s business dynamics towards Alibaba’s territory, payment and commerce, by launching the WeChat Red Envelope. Alibaba, in return, launch a similar function through Alipay. Since then, the two giant companies have been competing on purchases of exclusive rights on TV shows, handing out give away and coupons, lowering costs of services, and on many others.
  • In 2014, WeChat launched a function where users can split bills, virtually.
  • There are currently 4.3 million mini programs on WeChat.

Sources: AP News, Tech in Asia, IMD, Forbes, Technode

WeChat: Company Overview (About)

WeChat is an instant messaging client released in 2011 by Tencent Holdings Limited in China. it works on Android, iOS, MacOS, Windows, and HarmonyOS.

Let's now look at some must-know information about WeChat.

Key statKey info
Initial ReleaseJanuary 21, 2011
Based inTencent Binhai Mansion, Nanshan District Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
DevelopersTencent Holdings Limited
Operating SystemAndroid, HarmonyOS, iOS, MacOS, Windows
TypeInstant messaging client
Available inSimplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic, Turkish
Website:https://www.wechat.com/

Sources: WeChat, SCMP

How Much is WeChat Worth? (Valuation)

The most recent WeChat valuation was in 2021, at $67.3 billion. Though, the highest one was in 2015, at $83.6 billion.

Graph about WeChat's Valuation

The following table shows WeChat’s valuation throughout the years:

YearsValuation
2014$60 billion
2015$83.6 billion
2021$67.8 billion

Source: Tech in Asia, TechCrunch, TeleMedia Online, Fortune

How does WeChat make money?

WeChat’s revenue streams come from the fees it collects from value-added services, advertisements, and WeChat payments. A good portion of this revenue stream comes from its mini programs feature where payments from both online and real world can be transacted.

Aside from that, functions like ‘moments’ generates income for WeChat by charging money purchased emoticons.

Source: FourWeekMBA, TechCrunch

WeChat-driven Traditional Goods Consumption

Speaking of traditional goods consumption, WeChat made sales worth RMB 419.8 billion in 2018.

Graph about WeChat-driven Traditional Goods Consumption

The following shows data on sales of traditional goods like clothes, foods, and other goods on WeChat from 2016 to 2018:

YearSales (in RMB)
2016RMB 273.2 billion
2017RMB 333.9 billion
2018RMB 419.8 billion

Source: Dragon Social

WeChat: Shopping Gross Merchandise Value

The most recent information about WeChat's GMV is in 2019, at $136.66 billion.

Graph about WeChat: Shopping Gross Merchandise Value

The following table shows WeChat’s GMV:

YearGMV
2013$3.13 billion
2014$11.42 billion
2015$27.04 billion
2016$45.82 billion
2017$69.20 billion
2018$98.55 billion
2019$136.66 billion

Source: iResearchChina

Western Brands that Use WeChat

This list consists of a few major western brands that use WeChat:

  • Burberry
  • Mulberry
  • Starbucks
  • Pepsi
  • McDonalds
  • Coca-Cola

Source: MarketMeChina, Econsultancy, Tech in Asia

How many users does WeChat have?

The freshest information about WeChat's users was in the 2nd quarter of 2022, with 1.30 billion users on the app.

Graph about number of users of WeChat

The table below shows you WeChat's number of users throughout the past few years. We started counting in 2016, all the way up to 2022.

YearNumber of Users
2016889.3 million
2017988.6 million
20181.10 billion
20191.12 billion
20201.22 billion
20211.27 billion
2022 (as of Q2)1.30 billion

Source: Tencent 1, Tencent 2, Tencent 3, Tencent 4, Tencent 5, Tencent 6, Tencent 7

Age Distribution of WeChat Users in China as of 2022

The most popular age group of WeChat users in China is the "Over 51 years old", with a 22.70% share.

Then, there's the "Under 24 years old" group, with a 22.30% share.

Graph about age distribution of WeChat users in China

The following table shows the age distribution of WeChat users in China as of 2022:

Age BracketShare of Users
Under 24 years old22.30%
25-30 years old13.70%
31-40 years old22%
41-50 years old19.20%
Over 51 years old22.70%

Source: Statista

WeChat Penetration in China (2015)

As of the data taken from 2015, the following table shows the percentage of population who uses WeChat per tier of cities.

Graph about WeChat Penetration in China

The table below shows you WeChat's penetration in China in 2015 judging by the 5 tiers of cities.

TierPercentage
First Tier Cities93%
Second Tier Cities69%
Third Tier Cities43.00%
Fourth Tier Cities27.00%
Fifth Tier Cities28%

Source: China Internet Watch

How many messages are being sent on WeChat per day?

So far, the average number of messages being sent in WeChat is 45 billion. This data was announced in 2019 from one of Tencent’s now archived and unavailable report. Currently, there are no new data pertaining to this section.

Infographic about average number of messages being sent in WeChat per day

The table below shows you the number of messages sent on WeChat throughout 2017, as well as 2019.

YearNumber of Messages
201738 billion
201945 billion

Sources: Tech in Asia, HBR

How many voice and video calls are there on WeChat per day?

WeChat had 410 million voice and video calls per day in 2019, according to an article.

Infographic about Wechat number of voice and video calls per day

Source: ZD Net

How many call minutes are there on WeChat in a month?

Data back in 2017 shows that there is an average of 139 minutes of calls on WeChat per month.

Infographic about WeChat average minutes of call per month

Source: Technode

What are WeChat Mini Programs?

WeChat Mini programs are “apps within the app” that was launched by WeChat in 2017. These mini programs can be created by business owners within WeChat’s ecosystem. These mini programs have a lot of variations that are created for various purposes.

These are highly used in transactions and other functions all across China.

Source: TechCrunch, Ecovis

How many WeChat mini programs are there?

In 2021, there were 4.3 million mini programs on WeChat.

Graph about number of WeChat's mini programs

The table below shows you the number of WeChat mini programs, ranging from 2018 to 2021.

YearNumber of Mini Programs
2018580,000
20192.3 million
20203.2 million
20214.3 million

Sources: Reuters, Walk the Chat, Daxue Consulting, Dragon Social

Most popular mini programs by category

The most popular mini programs category on WeChat is Games, with 42% of the users in 2020.

Infographic about the most popular miniprogram of WeChat

The following table shows the most popular mini programs by category as of 2020.

RankMini Program CategoryPercentage of Users
#1Games42%
#2Lifestyle39%
#3Blog/News28%
#4E-commerce28.00%
#5Tools24%
#6Travel17%
#7Entertainment12%

Source: EduGlobal China

E-commerce mini programs industry distribution in 2017

Rank as the fourth most popular category , e-commerce mini programs are used by various business owners to sell their products or services.

The following data shows the percentage distribution of mini programs on different e-commerce industries based on a survey in 2017 with 50,000 mini programs as the sample population.

E-commerce IndustryPercentage
Clothes and Shoes29%
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables18%
Living Goods14%
Transportation14%
Others10%
Education and Training6.00%
Electronic and Digital Devices6.00%
Domestic Appliances3%

Source: Jing Daily

How much money has been transacted through WeChat mini programs?

As of 2021, WeChat has facilitated close to $250 billion in annual transactions through its mini programs.

Infographic about how much money has been transacted through WeChat mini programs

Source: TechCrunch

How much money do people spend per month via mini programs (RMB)?

The following table shows how much money people spend per month via mini programs in 2017 based on a survey with 50,000 mini programs as the sample population.

Expenditure Range (RMB)Percentage
Under 200 RMB13%
201-500 RMB36%
501-1,000 RMB35%
1,001-1,500 RMB14%
1,501 RMB and above2%

Source: Jing Daily

How many WeChat mini programs users are there (Daily)?

WeChat's mini programs have over 450 million daily users.

Graph about WeChat mini programs users daily

The data in the table below shows you the amount of daily users on WeChat's mini programs in the past few years.

YearNumber of Users
2017160 million
2018230 million
2019330 million
2020400 million
2021450 million

Source: Statista

Number of usage times per app user on mini programs - Monthly

These are the average numbers of usage times per app user on mini programs in 2019 and 2020.

YearTimes of Usage
201938.6
202051.4

Source: Statista

Minutes used per app user on mini programs - Monthly

These are the average numbers of minutes used per app user on mini programs in 2019 and 2020.

YearMinutes
201953.6 minutes
202068.1 minutes

Source: Statista

What are the top cities that use mini programs in China?

Beijing is by far most popular city for WeChat's mini programs in China. Following are Guangzhou, Shenzen, Shanghai, and other cities.

Graph about the top cities that use mini programs in China

The following table shows data on the top cities in china that use mini programs in 2017 based on a survey with 50,000 mini programs as the sample population.

CityPercentage
Beijing7%
Guangzhou5%
Shenzhen5%
Shanghai5%
Chengdu2.50%
Hangzhou2.50%
X'ian2.00%
Chongqing2%
Zhengzhou2%
Wuhan2%

Source: Jing Daily

What is WeChat Pay and how does it work?

WeChat Pay is a digital wallet and mobile payment service by WeChat. It allows users to make mobile payments and online transactions.

Infographic about how WeChat pay works

Source: Finance Magnets

WeChat Pay number of users throughout the years

  • March 2016: 300 million users
  • March 2021: 800 million users
Graph about WeChat Pay number of users throughout the years

Sources: All China Tech, Emerchant Pay

How many people work in the WeChat ecoystem? (Employees + others)

Tencent is not releasing information on the number of employees + collaborators and its distribution percentage across its various apps and services.

The numbers are estimated based on the jobs generated for the WeChat ecosystem each year.

Graph about number of people that works in WeChat ecosystem

In 2021, it was estimated that 46.18 million of people worked at WeChat.

YearNumber of People
201929.63 million
202036.84 million
202146.18 million

Source: Pandaily, KR Asia, Global Times

WeChat’s Percentage of Mobile Users Against its Competitors

The following table shows percentage distribution of mobile users among different social media apps as of 2019:

Social Media AppPercentage of Users
WeChat73.30%
QQ43.30%
Sina Weibo17%
Momo9%
Zhihu8.10%
Tantan4.60%
Douban3.70%
Ding Talk3%
Soul3%
Maimai3%
Others2.80%
Keep0.90%

Source: Statista

WeChat Mini Games

WeChat mini games are games that are created in WeChat via its mini programs function. These mini games creates profit for brands through in app purchases and advertisements.

Some mini games are built with the sole purpose of promoting a brand.

Source: Daxue Consulting

What are the top WeChat mini games in 2019?

The following list shows the top WeChat mini games in 2019 by the number of active users per month (MAU).

WeChat mini gameMAU
Flight of the Landlord36.4 million
Tiao Yi Tiao28.5 million
Gunfire Factory25.1 million
Glory of Kings22.8 million
Micronytes22.4 million
Flight of the Landlord (real person version)13.0 million
Universal Srifts 3D9.6 million
Conflict of Match People9.5 million
King of Gun King X8.3 million
Game for Peace8.2 million

Source: Quest Mobile

WeChat Red Envelope

WeChat Red Envelope, or WeChat Red Packet, is a mobile application that is created by Tencent on WeChat. It’s concept revolves around the Chinese tradition “hongbao” where money is placed inside a small red envelope which would be given to family and friends as a gift.

This concept is also offered by Tencent’s market competitors, Alibaba and Baidu.

This application can be utilized by the users to give monetary gifts as virtual credits. Money will be then deposited to the user’s WeChat Pay account which, in turn, can be use for purchases.

Source: Chinosity

What are the types of WeChat Red Envelope?

There are two types of WeChat Red Envelope (Red Packets):

  • Pairwise red packets- are red envelopes that are sent between two users.
  • Group red packets- are red envelopes that distribute money among a group of people in the chat. The amount of money that users receive in the group chat are randomly assigned.

Source: Major Tom

How many WeChat red envelopes were sent throughout the years?

The following list shows the number of WeChat red envelopes sent at the end of each year.

  • 2015: 2 billion WeChat red envelopes
  • 2016: 8 billion WeChat red envelopes
  • 2017: 14.2 billion WeChat red envelopes
Graph about number of WeChat red envelopes that were sent thoughout the years

Sources: QZ, Daxue Consulting, Tech Crunch

WeChat Website Traffic Analysis Overview

The following table shows the key stat and key info of WeChat Website traffic analysis.

Key StatKey Info
Daily Unique Visitors76,985
Monthly Visits2,332,646
Pages per Visitor2.03
Daily Page Views156,280
Monthly Visits (SEMrush)4,236,004
Monthly Unique Visitors (SEMrush)2,886,439
Monthly Visits (SimilarWeb)2,332,890
Alexa Rank10,459
Alexa Reach0.0089% (of global internet users)
Avg. visit duration01:01
Bounce rate62.43%

Sources: HypeStat

WeChat Website Traffic Sources

WeChat's website traffic is 46.16% direct, with the next most popular category being the referrals, with 37.21% of the traffic.

Direct46.16%
Referral37.21%
Search16.59%
Social0.05%
Paid0%

Source: HypeStat

WeChat Traffic Source: Desktop vs Mobile

  • 37.30% of the users visit the website through desktop devices
  • 62.70% of the users visit the website through mobile devices
Graph about WeChat Traffic source: Desktop vs Mobile

Source: HypeStat

How much time do people spend on WeChat?

The average time spent on WeChat on a daily basis is of 77 minutes (2019).

Infographic about the average time users spent using WeChat

These are the average time spent using WeChat on a daily basis.

YearTime
201666 minutes
201977 minutes

Sources: The Drum, China Internet Watch

WeChat Mobile App Statistics

These are the key stats and key info on WeChat mobile app on Android taken from Google Play as of November 2022:

Key StatKey Info
Launch DateJanuary 2011
Total Downloads~100 million
Rating Reviews3.7 out of 5
Total Review Votes~6 million

These are the key stats and key info on WeChat mobile app on iOS take from Apple Store as of November 2022:

Key StatKey Info
Launch DateJanuary 2010
Total Downloads
Rating Reviews4.1 out of 5
Total Review Votes~67,000

Sources: Google Play, Apple Store

What are the top countries are visiting WeChat’s Website?

WeChat is most visited in China, with 20.26% of the traffic share. Then, there's Hong Kong with 17.57% of the app's traffic.

WeChat is mainly popular in its mobile apps. However, we would like to show you data on the top countries visiting WeChat’s website. This table represents that data.

CountryTraffic ShareGrowth
China20.26%-17%
Hong Kong17.57%-13%
United States11.29%-7%
Macao8.65%-20.12%
Malaysia3.93%0.0144

Source: Similarweb

Where is WeChat available? Which Countries?

WeChat is available on almost all countries except for India.

India banned both WeChat and TikTok from the country amidst the growing tension on border disputes between the two countries.

Also, WeChat was banned in USA last 2020. The ban was lifted last 2021 under the new administration.

WeChat was also banned in Russia on May 06, 2017 but was later revoked 5 days after. This leaves India being the only country to have banned WeChat.

Sources: WeChat, The China Project, Washington Post, Reuters

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Ch Daniel is the co-founder of SignHouse and chairman of the CH Group. Daniel is leading the development of SignHouse's product, as well as strategising how else the company can reach its main mission: empowering 100M+ to use the world's most efficient document organisational tools.