Media Release

Aussies take 742 million selfies each year

  • 2 million selfies are taken each day across Australia
  • 2.3 million Aussies have taken a selfie naked, during sex or on the toilet
  • NSW takes the most selfies in the country


21 June 2018, Sydney, Australia – There’s no denying Australia is selfie-obsessed nation and there’s bound to be more than usual today to celebrate Selfie Day.

A new study by finder.com.au, the site that compares virtually everything, reveals more than two million selfies a day are snapped nationally, with an estimated 742 million taken each year.

But it also shows that selfies aren’t for everyone. The survey of 2,033 people finds only one in two (48%) Aussies take part in the practice.

These Aussies confess to taking a selfie about 80 times a year on average or more than one a fortnight.

Alex Kidman, Tech Expert at finder.com.au, says love it or hate it, most of us indulge in selfies.

“Until recently selfie wasn’t even a word, but now Aussies are generating fourteen million of them every single week. You’d be hard-pressed to go a day without seeing one in your social media feed ,” he says.

“Many phones even have a selfie mode to enhance, erase or perfect facial features, plus there are dozens of apps and accessories such as selfie sticks and fisheye lenses.”

It also shows nothing is sacred anymore with one in five (23%) Aussies admitting they’d snapped one at an inappropriate time.

From inside surgery theatres to behind the wheel, selfies range from poor taste to down right dangerous.

One in eight Australians (12%) admitted to snapping a selfie while having sex, while they were naked or on the toilet - that’s equivalent to 2.3 million adults.

Slightly fewer (7%) had taken a selfie while doing something illegal or stopped by police.

“While there should be rather obvious etiquette for specific situations such as funerals or memorial, for many nothing is off limits when it comes to selfies.”

“Be mindful of where you are and remember that safety comes first. It’s not worth putting your life in danger for a bunch of likes.”

A staggering 77% of Generation Y respondents take selfies, 84 times a year on average. This compares with 18% of Baby Boomers who take selfies for an average of 3 a year.

StateNumber of selfies taken per year
NSW275,936,393
QLD147,247,971
VIC196,153,100
SA33,640,907
WA 73,419,451

Selfie facts:

  • ‘Selfie’ was added and named word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary in 2013
  • Ellen DeGeneres tweeted a celebrity selfie at the Oscars in 2014, that was liked 2,369,507 times and retweeted 3,367,181 times*
  • The hashtag #selfie has been used on Instagram 348,678,197 times*
  • The first patented selfie stick was invented in 1984 by Hiroshi Ueda and Yujiro Mima, but it was actually called a “telescopic extender for supporting compact camera” and held the camera in place with a tripod screw

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Disclaimer

The information in this release is accurate as of the date published, but rates, fees and other product features may have changed. Please see updated product information on finder.com.au's review pages for the current correct values.

About Finder

Every month 2.6 million unique visitors turn to Finder to save money and time, and to make important life choices. We compare virtually everything from credit cards, phone plans, health insurance, travel deals and much more.

Our free service is 100% independently-owned by three Australians: Fred Schebesta, Frank Restuccia and Jeremy Cabral. Since launching in 2006, Finder has helped Aussies find what they need from 1,800+ brands across 100+ categories.

We continue to expand and launch around the globe, and now have offices in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland and the Philippines. For further information visit www.finder.com.au.

12.6 million average unique monthly audience (June- September 2019), Nielsen Digital Panel

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