FactCheck: Egypt not first African country with largest number of WhatsApp users

By Pascal Ibe

Claim

An X user posted statistics that ranked Egypt as the first African country with the most WhatsApp users.

Verdict

This statistics is FALSE. Findings indicate that since 2023 till August 2024, Nigeria is the Africa country with largest number of WhatsApp users.

Full Text

In August, an X user, Africa Firsts shared a statistics which ranked Egypt as first Africa country with most WhatsApp users.

According to the statistics, Egypt ranked 1st with 56 million WhatsApp users.

The post below 👇

African 🌍 Countries with the Most #WhatsApp Users:

1. Egypt 🇪🇬 – 56 million

2. Nigeria 🇳🇬 – 51 million

3. South Africa 🇿🇦 – 28.8 million

4. Kenya 🇰🇪 – 22.2 million

5. Morocco 🇲🇦 – 19 million

— Africa Firsts (@AfricaFirsts) August 18, 2024

FactWatch observed that another X account, Africa Facts Zones shared this same claim in March, 2024.

Verification

First, a table by the World Population Review, placed Nigeria as 10th country (51 million) with most WhatsApp users in the world. While Egypt ranked 17 (35 million users).

In an analysis published in April by Statista, as of the third of 2023, Nigeria saw approximately 95.1 percent of the country’s digital population engaging with mobile social messaging platform WhatsApp on a monthly basis. Approximately 93.9 percent of internet users in South Africa reported using WhatsApp every month, while Brazil saw 93.4 percent of its internet users engaging with the platform. By comparison, 63.7 internet users in France reported using the messaging app, while Denmark had the lowest WhatsApp usage rate among the examined markets.

See WhatsApp monthly usage in selected markets worldwide as of 3rd quarter of 2023👇

Also article by Rasayel, placed Nigeria on 5tth with 51 million WhatsApp users.

Conclusion

The statistics posted by X users is FALSE.