Photography has existed for almost two centuries and has witnessed many great photographers. However, the true advent of photography started with the development of digital cameras and, later, smartphones. In the following article, we share our latest photography and photo statistics procured with scientific and mathematical methods.
Photo statistics (Top Picks)
- 1.81 trillion photos are taken worldwide every year, which equals 57,000 per second, or 5.0 billion per day. By 2030, around 2.3 trillion photos will be taken every year.
- According to Photutorial data, 1.2 trillion were taken worldwide in 2021 and 1.72 trillion in 2022.
- The average user has around 2,100 photos on the smartphone in 2023. iOS smartphone users have approximately 2,400 photos on their phones, while Android users have around 1,900 photos on their phones.
- The global pandemic reduced the number of images taken by 25% in 2020 and 20% in 2021.
- By region, the number of photos taken by a smartphone user is led by the US: 20.2/day, Asia-Pacific 15/day, Latin America 11.8/day, Africa 8.1/day, and Europe 4.9/day.
- 12.4 trillion photos have been taken throughout history. By 2030, this number will increase to 28.6 trillion.
- Users share the most images on WhatsApp: 6.9 billion per day. 1.3 billion images are shared on Instagram daily, with about 100 million in posts and more than 1 billion on stories and chats.
- 750 billion images are on the internet, which is only 6% of the total photos that were ever taken since most of the photos we take are never shared.
- 92.5% of photos are taken with smartphones, and only 7% with cameras.
- There are 136 billion images on Google Images. By 2030, there will be 382 billion images on Google Images.
The first photograph, entitled “View from the Window in Le Gras“, was taken in 1826. Then, in 1861, the first color photograph was taken, followed by Fujifilm, which introduced the first digital camera in 1988. Despite the quick development of imaging technology, photos were scarce until smartphones were equipped with digital cameras. Nowadays, billions of photos are taken every day.
So, exactly how many photos are taken each year around the world?
In this data-driven overview of photo statistics, you’ll learn how many photos are taken per second or per year, how many images are on Google, and much more.
How many photos are taken each year?
With the ever-improving quality of smartphone cameras, the number of pictures taken around the world every day is skyrocketing. In 2023, people take as many as 54,000 photos every second, equating to 1.81 trillion per year.
- 1.81 trillion photos are taken per year
- 143 billion photos are taken per month
- 32.9 billion photos are taken per week
- 4.7 billion photos are taken per day
- 196 million photos are taken per hour
- 54,000 photos are taken every second
And here’s this data in the table format:
| Photos taken per | Number of photos |
|---|---|
| Second | 54,400 |
| Minute | 3.3 million |
| Hour | 196 million |
| Day | 4.7 billion |
| Week | 32.9 billion |
| Month | 143 billion |
| Year | 1.72 trillion |
Of course, it’s important to note that most of the photos taken with smartphones are selfies, photos of food, and various snapshots. These are not to be confused with professional photos, which represent only a small portion of the photos taken nowadays.
Global pandemic & the number of photos
The global pandemic that started in 2020 stopped people from traveling and even moving outside. As a result, the number of photos taken in those years decreased sharply.
- 25% fewer photos were taken in 2020.
- 20% fewer photos were taken in 2021.
In 2022, the number of photos taken increased sharply because restrictions were lifted, and people traveled more again, taking around 1.72 trillion photos.
The trend of increasing numbers of photos will continue to grow through 2023 and in the coming years. By 2025, almost 2 trillion photos will be taken each year, and by 2030, around 2.3 trillion.
How many photos are taken every day?
According to our latest estimates, we believe 4.7 billion photos are taken every day. This means that by 2030, around 6 billion photos will be taken daily.
Photos taken every day by region
An average US citizen takes 20.2 photos per day. Asia-Pacific follows the US with 15 photos per day, Latin America with 11.8 photos per day, Africa with 8.1 photos per day, and Europe with 4.9 photos per day.
Here are the numbers:
| Part of the world | Photos taken per day |
|---|---|
| USA | 20.2 |
| Asia & Oceania | 15 |
| Latin America | 11.8 |
| Africa | 8.1 |
| Europe | 4.9 |
To clarify, one million is 106, one billion is 109, and one trillion is 1012. Let’s put these numbers into perspective. If you took one photo per second, it would take 11 days and 14 hours to take one million photos. Likewise, it would take you 31.5 years to take 1 billion photos and 31,709 years to take a trillion photos. That was when the world’s first dog lived.
How many photos are there in the world?
There are about 12.4 trillion photos in the world. This number takes into account every photo taken since the first photo was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. According to our latest estimates, another 1.72 trillion photos are taken every year, so the total number increases by 10–14% every year. By 2030, the world will have taken 28.6 trillion photos, more than doubling the current number.
Smartphones vs. Cameras
While professionals still shoot with interchangeable lens cameras (ILC), most photos are taken with smartphones. The main reasons for the widespread adoption of smartphones in photography recently are their ubiquity, price, and ease of use. As a result, 89% of photos will be taken with smartphones in 2020, 92.5% in 2023, and 93% in 2023.
Google reports that its Android devices take 93 million selfies per day, and in one poll, 18-to-24-year-olds reported that every third photo they take is a selfie.
How many photos does the average person have?
According to Gigaom, the average user had 630 photos and 24 videos stored on their phone in 2015. Then, the average iOS user took 182 photos per month, while the average Android user took 111 photos per month. Since then, the number of photos people take day has drastically increased and smartphones can store many more images than they used to.
According to our 2023 data, the average user has around 2,000 photos on their smartphone, with iOS users closer to 2,400 photos and Android users around 1,900 photos.
How many images are on Google?
According to Photutorial’s data, there are an estimated 136 billion indexed images on Google Image Search in 2023. The number of indexed images could reach 382 trillion by 2030.
But Google doesn’t let us know the number of images in Google Images. The most recent confirmed data comes from 2010 when Google boasted about 10 billion indexed images. We also know that when Google Images was launched in 2001, 250 million images were indexed. This number increased to 1 billion in 2005. Since then, no official number has been confirmed.
Images shared over social media
Social media apps rarely provide information on the number of photos uploaded or shared. Therefore, the most publicly available data is several years old. Using math, I dug up the numbers for 2023.
In 2013, 27,800 images were shared per minute on Instagram and 208,300 on Facebook. Snapchat reported 8,796 images shared per second or 527,700 per minute. WhatsApp shared 8,100 images per second or 486,100 per minute. Users on Flickrs shared only about 700 images per minute.
Since then, the number of photos has tripled, and social media has gained billions of new users, so the numbers are now much higher. Users share 6.9 billion images on WhatsApp per day, 3.8 billion on Snapchat, 2.1 billion on Facebook, and 1.3 billion on Instagram. There are only about 1 million images shared on Flickr every day because it hasn’t grown much.
Here’s a table with all the numbers:
| Social media platform | Images shared/day |
|---|---|
| 6.9 billion | |
| Snapchat | 3.8 billion |
| 2.1 billion | |
| 1.3 billion | |
| Flickr | 1 million |
Why are these numbers higher than the reported number of photos taken each day? First, users share photos and images on social media, including screenshots and memes that aren’t counted as photos. Second, many images are shared with multiple users, but the reported numbers reflect each individual share.
Number of stock images
The term “stock images” includes photos, illustrations, and vectors. Since most free stock photo sites offer only about 1–2 million images (Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, etc.), I present data for the best stock photo sites.
Here are the exact stock image numbers:
| Stock photo site | Number of stock images |
|---|---|
| Shutterstock | 400 million |
| Adobe Stock | 295 million |
| Alamy | 288 million |
| Depositphotos | 186 million |
| Dreamstime | 182 million |
| 123RF | 180 million |
| iStock | 140 million |
| Bigstock | 110 million |
| Canva | 100 million |
| GettyImages | 34 million |
| Pond5 | 31 million |
| YayImages | 13.5 million |
| Stockphotosecrets | 7.7 million |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many photos will be taken in 2023?
According to Photutorial’s most recent data, 1.81 trillion photos will be taken in 2023. That’s 57,246 photos taken per second, 5.0 billion per day, and 150.8 billion per month.
How many photos are taken per year?
In 2023, 1.81 trillion photos will be taken globally, which is a 46% increase from 2020 and 2021, when the number of photos taken was drastically lower due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Sources
- Wikipedia contributors, View from the Window at Le Gras, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, May 27, 2022.
- Datacommons.org, 2021.
- Mathew Brogie, Average Number of Photos Taken Per Day Around the World, Repsly, 2021.
- Ed Lee, 2021 Worldwide Image Capture Forecast: 2020 – 2025, Rise Above Research, June 10, 2021.
- Nina Pantic, How Many Photos Will Be Taken in 2021?, Mylio, updated February 2, 2022.
- Minda Zetlin, Taking Selfies Destroys Your Confidence and Raises Anxiety, a Study Shows. Why Are You Still Doing It?, Inc., May 31, 2019.
- Nate Smith, Product Manager, Google Images, Ooh! Ahh! Google Images presents a nicer way to surf the visual web, Google Official Blog, July 20, 2010.
- Biz Carson, Special report: How we really use our camera phones, Old GigaOm, January 23, 2015.
Comments