PayPal Users: How Many People Use PayPal in 2023?

Hey there! Have you ever wondered how many people actually use PayPal today? As an avid PayPal user myself, I was curious to dig into their latest user statistics and trends. In this post, we‘ll explore PayPal‘s global user growth over the years, breakdown key demographics, and compare metrics like transactions per account. My goal is to provide a comprehensive overview of PayPal adoption and usage in 2023. I‘ll share plenty of numbers and data points throughout, so be sure to read to the end!

Let‘s start with the big question – how many users does PayPal have in 2023?

PayPal Now Has Over 433 Million Users Worldwide

According to PayPal‘s Q1 2023 earnings results, they currently have over 433 million active registered user accounts globally.

To give some perspective on how massive that number is, PayPal has:

• More user accounts than the entire population of the United States (329 million)
• Nearly twice as many users as Instagram (1 billion)
• More accounts than the three major US airlines combined (American, Delta, United).

Here is a chart showing PayPal‘s impressive user growth since 2017:

PayPal gained over 200 million new registered users between Q4 2017 and Q1 2023. That‘s absolutely staggering growth!

However, you may notice that growth slowed in 2022 and PayPal actually lost 2 million net users in Q1 2023. This can be attributed to a few potential factors:

• Increased competition – Services like Apple Pay, Buy Now Pay Later plans, and cryptocurrencies are eating into PayPal‘s market share somewhat.
• Post-pandemic decline – PayPal saw a huge spike in new users during 2020 and 2021 amidst the ecommerce boom. Growth is normalizing again post-Covid.
• Market saturation – With over 400 million users already, PayPal has penetrated most major markets, limiting new user growth.

While the user growth may be decelerating, PayPal still reigns as the top digital wallet worldwide with an expansive user base. Next, let‘s explore PayPal adoption across different countries.

United States Leads in PayPal Users, UK Tops European Markets

The United States represents PayPal‘s largest user base with over 140 million active accounts. This gives PayPal incredible market penetration in the US, with 43% of the population having an account.

PayPal continues to be the most used digital wallet in America as well. A 2021 survey by CivicScience found:

• 87% of US digital wallet users have a PayPal account
• 53% use PayPal the most out of any ewallet
• Venmo ranked second at just 18% share of users

Clearly PayPal maintains a strong foothold in the US payments landscape. They also facilitate a massive volume of payments here. In 2021 alone, PayPal processed nearly $1.2 trillion in US payment volume.

Across Europe, PayPal adoption varies significantly by country. Based on daily active user accounts, here were the top markets in 2019:

• United Kingdom – 330,134 users
• Germany – 312,011 users
• France – 96,124 users
• Italy – 71,811 users
• Russia – 69,306 users

The UK came out on top with over 300,000 daily active PayPal users. Germany and France followed closely behind with over 90,000 each.

Studies have found that European consumers are 137% more likely to purchase when PayPal is available at checkout. This demonstrates how integral PayPal has become to online shopping in Europe.

An interesting side note – Russia accounted for a sizable share of users before PayPal suspended operations there in 2022 amidst the Ukraine invasion.

Gen X and Baby Boomers Are PayPal‘s Core US Demographic

When we look at PayPal‘s key demographics in the United States, older generations emerge as the platform‘s most active users.

As of March 2023, here is the breakdown of PayPal users by age group in the US:

• 31% are 50-64 years old (Gen X and Baby Boomers)
• 28% are 30-39 years old (Millennials)
• 22% are 40-49 years old (Gen X)
• Just 19% of users are between 18-29 years old (Gen Z and Millennials)

So middle-aged adults over 50 years old make up the largest share with 31%. However, a combined 50% falls into the 30 to 49 bracket, representing Millennial users.

Gen Z and younger Millennials are the smallest demographic at just 19% of PayPal‘s US user base. These digital-native groups tend to prefer platforms like Venmo and Cash App.

But PayPal still attracts a sizable amount of Millennial users thanks to features like PayPal Credit and rewards through Honey. PayPal will need to keep innovating to maintain adoption across new generations.

PayPal Now Has Over 35 Million Merchant Accounts Worldwide

In addition to consumer accounts, PayPal has experienced massive growth in business users. As of 2022, PayPal had over 35 million merchant accounts, up a staggering 160% from 13 million in 2015.

Let‘s examine how PayPal‘s merchant user base has expanded:

The 6.1% growth from 2021 to 2022 suggests merchant account expansion may be plateauing a bit. But it‘s still extremely impressive that over 1 in 5 small businesses in the US now use PayPal.

This vast merchant network is a strategic asset that reinforces PayPal‘s value for consumers. Users know they can securely pay online with PayPal almost anywhere.

Meanwhile, merchants are drawn to features like no monthly fees, PCI compliance, and the ability to offer installment plans via PayPal Credit. The widespread business adoption fuels a positive growth cycle.

PayPal Now Integrated by Over 1.79 Million Websites

Thanks to the enormous merchant base, PayPal has become a standard payment option accepted by millions of websites worldwide.

According to BuiltWith, there are now over 1.79 million websites using PayPal as of July 2023. That number has steadily risen over the past year:

• July 2022: 1.68 million websites
• August 2022: 1.71 million websites
• September 2022: 1.74 million websites
• October 2022: 1.76 million websites
• November 2022: 1.78 million websites
• December 2022: 1.79 million websites
• January 2023: 1.79 million websites
• February 2023: 1.79 million websites
• March 2023: 1.79 million websites
• April 2023: 1.79 million websites
• May 2023: 1.79 million websites
• June 2023: 1.79 million websites
• July 2023: 1.79 million websites

The growth trend shows that more sites continue integrating PayPal even as the platform already enjoys widespread adoption.

In terms of individual countries, the United States leads with over 495,000 websites using PayPal. The UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia, France, Netherlands, and Spain each have over 50,000 PayPal-enabled sites as well.

When looking across ecommerce platforms and shopping carts, PayPal consistently ranks as a top payment method offered.

For example, these figures represent the share of Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify stores that have PayPal integrated:

• Magento: PayPal is enabled on 75% of sites
• WooCommerce: 73% of stores offer PayPal checkout
• Shopify: Around 60% of shops support PayPal payments

The data illustrates that an overwhelming majority of online merchants, across platforms and geographies, provide the option to pay by PayPal.

PayPal Accounts averaged 51 Transactions in 2022

Now that we‘ve explored PayPal‘s user and merchant growth, let‘s examine how actively people engage with PayPal.

One useful metric is average transactions per PayPal account. This sheds light on how frequently the average user sends or receives money through PayPal.

Here are the numbers over the past five years:

• 2018: 36 transactions per account
• 2019: 40 transactions per account
• 2020: 40 transactions per account
• 2021: 45 transactions per account
• 2022: 51 transactions per account

As you can see, engagement has risen steadily from 36 transactions in 2018 to 51 transactions in 2022.

What‘s driving this upward trend in usage? A few potential factors:

• More online shopping – The pandemic accelerated ecommerce growth, with consumers using PayPal more for online purchases.
• Expanding merchant acceptance – Having PayPal available at more sites and stores enables users to utilize it more often.
• Improved mobile experience – PayPal refined its mobile apps, making peer-to-peer payments and in-store checkout faster.
• Value-added services – Features like buy now, pay later plans, rewards through Honey, and bill pay bring in more transaction volume.

The 15 transactions per year increase demonstrates that the average PayPal account holder is now using the platform more frequently to send money and make online or in-person purchases. More activity translates to higher payment volume and revenue for PayPal.

Consumers Are More Willing to Buy When PayPal is Available

Let‘s shift gears and explore how the availability of PayPal impacts consumer shopping habits.

According to a 2021 survey conducted by PayPal, the presence of PayPal at checkout dramatically increases purchase conversion. Just look at some of these statistics:

• 54% increase in consumers willing to purchase when PayPal is available.
• 137% more German consumers willing to buy with PayPal.
• 66% of Australian consumers more likely to purchase with PayPal.

This indicates that shoppers view PayPal as a convenient, trusted payment method. When PayPal isn‘t available, they are far less likely to complete the purchase.

The findings emphasize the strategic importance for merchants to offer PayPal. It streamlines the checkout process, provides security protections, and gives customers flexible financing options if needed.

On the other side, widespread PayPal acceptance gives consumers confidence in seamlessly paying anywhere online or in apps. This creates a powerful network effect benefitting both businesses and users.

How Do People Actually Use PayPal in Their Daily Lives?

So those are some of the key statistics about PayPal‘s adoption and usage. But how do people actually incorporate PayPal into their daily lives?

For me personally as a PayPal user, here are some examples of how I utilize it on a regular basis:

• I use PayPal to pay for 80% of my online purchases. It saves my payment info across all my favorite shopping sites, so checking out takes seconds.
• Whenever I sell something locally on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, the buyer usually pays me via PayPal. It‘s the standard for peer-to-peer payments.
• I send money to and receive money from friends using PayPal whenever we need to split bills. The PayPal app makes it super fast.
• I have PayPal set up to pay my monthly utility bills automatically. I don‘t have to worry about mailing checks or missing payments.
• I use my PayPal app‘s QR code to pay in-store at retailers that accept it. Some even offer discounts for using PayPal!
• Whenever I book AirBnBs, event tickets, or other travel, I exclusively use PayPal to pay if it‘s available.
• I shop at sites like eBay knowing I can file claims through PayPal Purchase Protection if issues arise.
• If I come across an online store I‘ve never heard of but they have PayPal checkout, I‘ll be more willing to purchase there.
• I added my PayPal debit card to Uber Eats so I can order food and earn cashback on purchases.

Hopefully these real-life examples provide perspective on how PayPal fits into people‘s everyday routines. It‘s become their preferred payment method online and in apps thanks to speed, security, and convenience.

Wrapping Up Key PayPal User Statistics for 2023

We‘ve covered a lot of ground when it comes to PayPal user data. Let‘s do a quick recap of the key stats:

• PayPal now has over 433 million registered user accounts globally.
• The United States leads with over 140 million total users.
• Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are PayPal‘s biggest demographic in the US.
• There are over 35 million PayPal merchant accounts worldwide.
• Over 1.79 million websites have integrated with PayPal.
• The average PayPal user conducts 51 transactions annually.
• PayPal increases consumers‘ willingness to buy by 54% on average.

The numbers illustrate the tremendous scale and momentum of PayPal adoption. They‘ve captured a dominant share of digital wallets and online payments.

While new competitors are emerging, PayPal retains clear leadership in this space thanks to network effects and brand trust. Their growth trajectory highlights the accelerating shift towards digital payments and mobile wallets.

Thanks for reading this deep dive on PayPal user statistics! Let me know if you have any other PayPal topics you‘d like explored in the future. I‘m always happy to provide insights as a fintech analyst and avid PayPal customer myself.