The Scale of EmojiEmoji
A Japanese word (็ตตๆๅญ) meaning 'picture character' โ small graphical symbols used in digital communication to express ideas, emotions, and objects. Communication
Every day, people send over 10 billion emojis across messaging apps, social media, and email. That staggering volume represents one of the most rapid shifts in human communication in recorded history. Less than two decades after emojis were standardized by UnicodeUnicode
Universal character encoding standard that assigns a unique number to every character across all writing systems and symbol sets, including emoji., they've become the dominant visual vocabulary of digital life.
But who is using which emojis โ and where? The statistics reveal patterns that are both predictable and surprising.
Overall Usage Volume
Based on data aggregated from Unicode ConsortiumUnicode Consortium
The non-profit organization that develops and maintains the Unicode Standard, including the process for adding new emoji. reports, social media analytics, and platform disclosures through early 2025:
- Over 10 billion emojis are sent daily across all platforms
- 92% of the online population uses emojis regularly
- The average emoji user sends between 5 and 20 emojis per day
- 3,782 emojis are in active Unicode support, but the top 100 account for roughly 82% of all usage
The power law here is extreme. The top 10 emojis โ ๐ โค๏ธ ๐คฃ ๐ ๐ญ ๐ ๐ ๐ฅฐ ๐ ๐ โ collectively represent around 30% of all emoji traffic worldwide.
Age Demographics: Who Uses Emojis Most?
Emoji use is nearly universal, but frequency and style vary dramatically by age group.
Generation Z (born 1997โ2012)
Gen Z users are the most prolific emoji senders but with a twist: they often use emojis ironically or to signal in-group humor. The ๐ skull emoji ("I'm dead" = something is hilarious) and ๐ญ crying emoji (used for extreme laughter, not sadness) are hallmarks of Gen Z communication. This demographic also pioneered the use of emoji-as-tone-softener at the end of messages.
Millennials (born 1981โ1996)
Millennials were the first adult adopters of emoji and remain heavy users. They tend toward literal usage โ โค๏ธ means love, ๐ means something is funny. Usage data shows millennials send the widest variety of emoji types across both personal and professional contexts.
Generation X (born 1965โ1980)
Gen X emoji use is more moderate in frequency but growing. This cohort shows higher use of "professional" emoji like ๐, โ , and ๐ in workplace contexts โ possibly reflecting their role as managers and executives adopting new communication norms.
Baby Boomers (born 1946โ1964)
Boomers use far fewer emoji overall, but certain emoji punch above their weight in this demographic: โค๏ธ, ๐, and ๐ appear disproportionately often. Boomers also tend to use emoji more literally and less ironically.
Platform Breakdown
Different platforms cultivate distinctly different emoji cultures.
iMessage and iOS Ecosystem
Apple's platform shows the widest emoji vocabulary diversity. iOS users have access to Apple's high-quality emoji rendering, and iMessage's tapback reactions (using six specific emoji) have made โค๏ธ, ๐, and ๐ even more prominent. The skin tone modifierSkin Tone Modifier
Five Unicode modifier characters based on the Fitzpatrick scale that change the skin color of human emoji (U+1F3FB to U+1F3FF). adoption rate is notably higher on iOS than on Android.
Android / Google Messages
Android users skew toward the top 50 emoji more heavily than iOS users. The emoji rendering across various Android manufacturers creates inconsistency that may discourage use of less-familiar emoji. ๐, โค๏ธ, and ๐ญ dominate across all Android demographics.
Instagram emoji behavior is shaped by the platform's visual, aspirational nature. Hearts dominate: โค๏ธ, ๐งก, ๐ appear at unusually high rates in comments. The ๐ฅ fire emoji is consistently among the top 10. Comments on influencer posts skew toward complimentary emoji โ ๐, ๐ฅฐ, ๐.
Twitter / X
Twitter shows higher use of ๐, ๐ญ, and ๐คก โ emoji that convey irony, absurdity, or political commentary. The platform's character limits make emoji efficient signal-carriers. ๐งต (thread), ๐, and โฌ๏ธ (upvote-style signaling) also appear at unusually high rates relative to other platforms.
TikTok
TikTok's comment culture has spawned distinct emoji slang. ๐ค (pinched fingers) exploded in popularity via the platform. ๐ , ๐ฎโ๐จ, and ๐ซ are Gen Z signifiers that trend on TikTok before spreading elsewhere. TikTok's global user base also creates cross-cultural emoji trends faster than any previous platform.
Gender Patterns in Emoji Usage
Research across multiple studies (including analysis of emoji metadata and survey data) consistently shows:
- Women use emoji more frequently than men across all demographics
- Women use a wider variety of emoji, particularly heart variants and positive-emotion emoji
- Men show higher use of ๐, ๐ช, and sports/activity emoji
- ๐ and โค๏ธ are the top emoji for both genders
These patterns reflect broader differences in communication style โ they are not absolute, and individual variation is high.
Workplace vsVariation Selector (VS)
Unicode characters (VS-15 U+FE0E and VS-16 U+FE0F) that modify whether a character renders in text (monochrome) or emoji (colorful) presentation.. Personal Emoji Use
The rise of Slack, Teams, and professional messaging has created a distinct "professional emoji" category:
| Emoji | Professional Use | Personal Use |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ | Acknowledgment | Casual approval |
| โ | Task complete | Rarely used |
| ๐ | Thank you | Prayer / please |
| ๐ | Celebrating wins | Party / fun |
| ๐ฅ | "This is great" | Excited commentary |
| ๐ | Rarely appropriate | Most popular single emoji |
About 61% of workers report using emoji in professional communications, and 76% say emoji make workplace communication feel more friendly and less formal.
The Long Tail: Underused Emoji
At the other end of the spectrum, thousands of emoji are used extremely rarely:
- Flag emoji for small nations (๐ฆ๐ผ Aruba, ๐ฌ๐ฑ Greenland) see negligible usage
- Technical symbols repurposed as emoji (โจ๏ธ, ๐) have low daily use
- Regional indicatorRegional Indicator (RI)
Paired Unicode letters (U+1F1E6 to U+1F1FF) that form country flag emoji when combined according to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes. symbols used alone rather than in flag pairs - Many food emoji for less internationally common dishes remain niche
Explore Emoji Statistics
Visit our Emoji Stats tool to explore emoji counts by category, Unicode version, and type โ and see how the 3,900+ emoji in the standard are distributed across the spectrum from ubiquitous to obscure.