UAE Social Media Statistics 2026

This reference was compiled from the supplied, pre-verified research dataset on 10 August 2026. Every figure keeps its own reference year because a page published in 2026 is not evidence that every underlying measurement was collected in 2026. Platform advertising reach means accounts or addressable ad profiles, not unique people; LinkedIn reports registered members rather than active users.

Key statistics

• The UAE had 12.5 million social media user identities in October 2025, equal to 110% of the total population. Source: DataReportal (We Are Social + Meltwater), Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated October 2025 and published 5 November 2025.
• UAE internet penetration was 99.0% in October 2025, with 11.3 million people online. Source: DataReportal / Kepios analysis, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated October 2025 and published 5 November 2025.
• Social media user identities in the UAE grew by 1.8 million, or 16.7%, between late 2024 and the end of 2025. Source: DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, comparison period late 2024 to end 2025 and published 5 November 2025.
• The TDRA recorded 24,278,380 active mobile subscriptions in December 2025, equal to 255.6 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants on the regulator's population base. Source: TDRA (Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority), open data, December 2025.
• TikTok reported UAE advertising reach of 12.5 million adults aged 18 and over in late 2025, equal to 134.6% of the adult population. Source: TikTok advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated late 2025.
• LinkedIn reported 10.0 million members in the UAE in late 2025, equal to 87.6% of the total population. Source: LinkedIn advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated late 2025.
• Reddit's UAE advertising reach rose by 1.60 million, or 188%, from the end of 2024 to late 2025 and reached 2.45 million. Source: Reddit advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, comparison end 2024 to late 2025.
• Mobile phones generated 59.35% of UAE web traffic in July 2026, while desktop generated 40.02%. Source: Statcounter GlobalStats, Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet Market Share in United Arab Emirates, July 2026.

Platform advertising reach

These platform numbers are self-reported planning estimates. They may include duplicate, business, visitor, or otherwise non-unique accounts, and they cannot be added together. TikTok uses an adult denominator, while most other population shares use the total population.

• Facebook reported UAE advertising reach of 9.70 million in late 2025, equal to 85.0% of the population, after year-on-year growth of +650k or 7.2%. Source: Meta advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated late 2025.
• YouTube reported UAE advertising reach of 8.37 million in late 2025, equal to 73.3% of the population, after year-on-year growth of +120k or 1.5%. Source: platform advertising resources as republished by DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated late 2025.
• Instagram reported UAE advertising reach of 8.05 million in late 2025, equal to 70.5% of the population, after year-on-year growth of +1.15m or 16.7%. Source: Meta advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated late 2025.
• Messenger reported UAE advertising reach of 5.65 million in late 2025, equal to 49.5% of the population, with no year-on-year change. Source: Meta advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated late 2025.
• Snapchat reported UAE advertising reach of 5.13 million in late 2025, equal to 44.9% of the population, after year-on-year growth of +245k or 5.0%. Source: Snap advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated late 2025.
• X reported UAE advertising reach of 2.85 million in late 2025, down 183,000 or 6.0% year on year. Source: X advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, comparison end 2024 to late 2025.
• Threads reported UAE advertising reach of 893,000 in late 2025, equal to 7.8% of the population. Source: Meta advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated late 2025.
• Snapchat had the most gender-balanced reported UAE platform audience in late 2025 at 38.0% female, while Messenger was the most male-skewed at 25.2% female. Source: Meta and Snap advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figures dated late 2025.
• Facebook's reported UAE reach fell by 100,000 or 1.0% and Instagram's fell by 100,000 or 1.2% between the third and fourth quarters of 2025. Source: Meta advertising resources, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, Q3 to Q4 2025.

Population, internet, and mobile context

The denominator matters. DataReportal uses a United Nations population estimate, the World Bank publishes a separate midyear series, and TDRA's own penetration mathematics implies a smaller population base. Mixing one body's numerator with another body's denominator produces a false percentage.

• The United Nations population estimate used by DataReportal was 11.4 million for the UAE in October 2025. Source: DataReportal (We Are Social + Meltwater), Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, using United Nations data dated October 2025.
• The World Bank's de facto midyear estimate put the UAE population at 11,513,149 in 2025, compared with 10,986,400 in 2024. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, UAE population, database last updated 13 July 2026.
• The UAE population grew by 291,000, or 2.6%, between the end of 2024 and the end of 2025 on the United Nations series used by DataReportal. Source: United Nations data, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, October 2025.
• The UAE population was 63.7% male and 36.3% female in October 2025. Source: United Nations data, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, October 2025.
• The UAE population was 88.3% urban and 11.7% rural in October 2025. Source: United Nations data, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, October 2025.
• The median age of the UAE population was 31.6 years in October 2025. Source: United Nations data, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, October 2025.
• People aged 25 to 44 made up 52.5% of the UAE population in October 2025, while people aged 65 and over made up 1.8%. Source: United Nations data, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, October 2025.
• The UAE had 23.0 million cellular mobile connections in October 2025, equal to 202% of the population, after growth of 1.7 million or 8.1% year on year. Source: GSMA Intelligence, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figure dated October 2025.
• UAE internet users increased by 288,000, or 2.6%, between October 2024 and October 2025. Source: DataReportal / Kepios analysis, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, October 2024 to October 2025.
• TDRA recorded 4,884,712 internet subscriptions and 1,940,650 fixed lines in December 2025. Source: TDRA open data sets, December 2025.
• Median UAE download speed reached 614.42 Mbps on mobile and 327.56 Mbps on fixed broadband in August 2025. Source: Ookla, via DataReportal, Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, figures dated August 2025.
• The UAE scored 97.5 out of 100 on the ITU ICT Development Index in 2024, with universal connectivity at 100% and meaningful connectivity at 92.8%. Source: ITU, via the UAE Government portal, Bridging the digital divide, 2024.

Behaviour, devices, and referrals

The latest freely available UAE time-spent and preference survey is old. DataReportal stopped publishing the GWI behavioural slides after its 2023 edition, so these values are dated to the underlying 2022 fieldwork rather than presented as current.

• UAE internet users aged 16 to 64 spent an average of 7 hours 29 minutes online per day, 2 hours 50 minutes on social media, and used 8.2 social platforms per month in GWI's third-quarter 2022 survey. Source: DataReportal / We Are Social / Meltwater, Digital 2023: United Arab Emirates, published 9 February 2023 with behavioural data from GWI Q3 2022.
• TDRA reported average daily social media use of 2 hours 20 minutes for 2022, 30 minutes lower than the 2 hours 50 minutes reported by DataReportal and GWI for broadly the same period. Source: TDRA, Digital UAE Factsheet, issued 10 August 2023 and covering 2022 data; comparison source: DataReportal / GWI.
• WhatsApp was named the favourite social platform by 26.9% of UAE internet users aged 16 to 64 in GWI's third-quarter 2022 survey, ahead of Instagram at 17.8%, Facebook at 17.5%, and TikTok at 14.6%. Source: DataReportal / We Are Social / Meltwater, Digital 2023: United Arab Emirates, GWI Q3 2022.
• Staying in touch with friends and family was the leading reason for using the internet among UAE users aged 16 to 64 at 58.8% in GWI's third-quarter 2022 survey. Source: DataReportal / We Are Social / Meltwater, Digital 2023: United Arab Emirates, GWI Q3 2022.
• Smartphone ownership reached 96.2% among UAE internet users aged 16 to 64 in GWI's third-quarter 2022 survey, while laptop or desktop ownership was 60.5% and tablet ownership was 38.0%. Source: DataReportal / We Are Social / Meltwater, Digital 2023: United Arab Emirates, GWI Q3 2022.
• Facebook produced 73.17% of measured UAE social referral traffic in July 2026, followed by YouTube at 10.82%, Instagram at 8.69%, and X at 4.45%. Source: Statcounter GlobalStats, Social Media Stats United Arab Emirates, July 2026; this measures outbound referral traffic, not platform popularity or total usage.
• UAE nationals reporting that they used the internet in English rose from 22% in 2013 to 46% in 2019. Source: Northwestern University in Qatar, Media Use in the Middle East 2019, UAE sample of 1,092 with fieldwork from 11 July to 20 August 2019; this covers Emirati nationals, not all residents.
• TDRA reported 569 million mobile app downloads in 2022, up 16.4%, and AED 1.587 billion in in-app spending, up 25.3%. Source: TDRA, Digital UAE Factsheet, issued 10 August 2023 and covering 2022 data.

Data gaps and conflicts

No verified current UAE user count exists for WhatsApp or Telegram. No source publishes an expat-versus-Emirati breakdown of social media use, a current UAE time-spent figure, or current UAE smartphone penetration. The only current-looking claims found for those gaps traced to marketing blogs or aggregators rather than a primary source.

Population denominators also conflict. DataReportal uses 11.4 million for October 2025, the World Bank reports 11,513,149 for its 2025 midyear estimate, and TDRA's 255.6 mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants implies a base near 9.5 million. TDRA's penetration rates must not be combined with United Nations, World Bank, or FCSC population counts.

The 12.5 million social-media-identities headline is identical to TikTok's adult advertising reach and shares its 16.7% growth rate. DataReportal's headline is therefore anchored to the largest available platform figure, not an independent census. LinkedIn's 10.0 million figure is registered members rather than active users. Statcounter measures referrals, not total platform use.

Cite this page

Shabang (2026), UAE Social Media Statistics 2026, Shabang, last updated 10 August 2026, https://shabang.ae/guides/analytics/uae-social-media-statistics/. Credit the original publisher named beside any figure and Shabang as the compilation.

Sources

1. DataReportal (We Are Social + Meltwater), Digital 2026: The United Arab Emirates, published 5 November 2025 with data dated October to December 2025.
2. TDRA (Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority), open data sets, December 2025.
3. Statcounter GlobalStats, Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet Market Share in United Arab Emirates, July 2026.
4. Statcounter GlobalStats, Social Media Stats United Arab Emirates, July 2026.
5. World Bank, World Development Indicators, UAE population, database last updated 13 July 2026.
6. UAE Government portal, Bridging the digital divide, citing ITU and Ookla.
7. DataReportal / We Are Social / Meltwater, Digital 2023: United Arab Emirates, published 9 February 2023 with GWI Q3 2022 behavioural data.
8. TDRA, Digital UAE Factsheet, issued 10 August 2023 and covering 2022 data.
9. Northwestern University in Qatar, Media Use in the Middle East 2019, fieldwork 11 July to 20 August 2019.

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