PARIS: Nearly five billion people, or slightly more than 60 percent of the world’s population, are active on social media, according to a recent study.

That represents an increase of 3.7 percent over the past year, according to calculations by digital advisory firm Kepios in its latest quarterly report.

The number of social network users is approaching the number that use the 5.19 billion which use the internet, or 64.5 percent of the world population.