1.61bn people log on to social networking sites

More than one in five globally or 1.61 billion people are estimated to log in to social networking sites at least monthly in 2013, a new research has revealed.

The research carried out by eMarketer indicates that the growth in social networking site users will push the estimated number to 2.33 billion by 2017.

The study found that the social network penetration is the maximum in Netherlands, at 63.5 percent followed by Norway at 63.3 percent and Sweden at 56.4 percent, News 24 reports.

According to the report, the 1.61 billion estimated represented 22 percent of the world's estimated population.

After Sweden, South Korea stands at the fourth country with most social network penetration at 54.4 percent, followed by Denmark at 53.3 percent, the US 51.7 percent and Finland 51.3 percent.

The study also revealed that the US remains the country with the greatest number of Facebook users, at 146.8 million.

However, India's large population and expected growth rate, it will have the largest Facebook population of any country by 2016, the report added.