Facebook usage - dominated by young audience, despite older demographics growing quickly

Nielsen released figures last week showing that the fastest growing Facebook demographic segments are in the older audiences with the 35-49 year old and 50-64 year old user base growing significantly faster than younger audiences (Dec 08 vs Dec 07.)

However, whilst this makes interesting headlines / is a good indication of how social networking is being universally adopted, in absolute terms the volume of younger Facebook users still far outweighs (even the combined) number of older users.

I have split down usage by age group for the top 10 countries with highest Facebook penetration:

Country	15-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-65
USA	23,927,320	14,953,960	8,912,960	3,757,280	2,051,540
UK	7,634,100	5,390,340	2,617,920	1,007,760	463,100
Canada	5,032,000	3,248,440	1,672,820	848,120	451,200
Turkey	5,241,760	2,761,980	712,780	179,180	78,340
France	4,928,980	2,315,280	592,340	218,260	109,440
Italy	3,353,740	2,898,420	1,327,340	462,120	159,480
Australia	2,198,420	1,756,680	663,400	270,320	144,760
Colombia	2,487,080	1,225,980	327,940	109,580	49,300
Chile	2,004,720	1,234,640	523,200	215,400	76,500
Spain	1,141,980	1,869,420	552,780	136,940	60,140

Facebook - usage by age group in top 10 Facebook countries (actual numbers of active users)

The figures above are taken from the Facebook advertising interface and show that 46.6% of the Facebook audience of the top 10 countries by usage is in the 15-24 year old age range, followed by a further 30.3% in the 25-34 year old age range.

The older Facebook demographics may be growing faster than the younger demographics, but 75% of Facebook users in the largest countries by Facebook usage are still under 35.

LATEST FACEBOOK USAGE FIGURES BY COUNTRY HERE

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