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SwiftKey Emoji Report

April 2015
ONE BILLION EMOJI
SwiftKey analyzed more than one billion pieces of emoji data across a wide range of categories to
learn how speakers of 16 different languages and regions use emoji. The findings in this report came
from an analysis of aggregate SwiftKey Cloud data over a four month period between October 2014
and January 2015, and includes both Android and iOS devices.
This report will analyze languages and language variants (eg US vs Latin American Spanish) across 60
emoji categories. The first section identifies language leaders for each category, then compares emoji
usage between English language speakers, sentiment across emoji and languages, and lists the most
over-indexed emoji for the US.
This is followed by a breakdown of the more interesting categories, including a look how the leaders of
each category compare to the average, visual representations of the data, and additional data on other
categories not yet mentioned.
Note: as there are over 800 emoji, the frequency of any individual emoji is often small. The numbers
referenced below (e.g. 0.29%) represent how often each emoji is used out of all emoji usage.
Findings of note:
Canadians score highest in emoji categories some may consider to be more American (money,
raunchy, violent, sports)
French use four times as many heart emoji than other languages, and its the only language
for which a smiley is not #1
Flowers and plants emoji are used at more than 4X the average rate by Arabic speakers
Russian speakers use three times as much romantic emoji than the average
Australias emoji use characterizes it as the land of vice & indulgence, using double the
average amount of alcohol-themed emoji, 65% more drug emoji than average and leading for
both junk food and holiday emoji
Americans lead for a random assortment of emoji & categories, including skulls, birthday cake,
fire, tech, LGBT, meat and female-oriented emoji
Background on SwiftKey:
SwiftKey Keyboard is the 'mind-reading' hit keyboard app for iPhone and Android known for learning
and predicting your favorite words, phrases and emoji sometimes with creepy accuracy. SwiftKey
users have saved nearly two trillion keystrokes and more than 23,000 years in combined typing time.
Founded in London in 2008, SwiftKey's technology is now found on more than 250M devices
worldwide. Learn more at www.swiftkey.com.
Media may reach the SwiftKey PR team at press@swiftkey.com

Emoji Report, April 2015

Download SwiftKey here:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1: Category analysis - page 2
Section 2: Diversity & sentiment - page 5
Section 3: Category drill-down - page 8
Section 4: Additional category data - page 16

Section 1: CATEGORY ANALYSIS


The emoji data was organized by the 60 categories listed below. When a particular emoji fit into more
than one category, we chose the one whose context was closest to how we thought the emoji would
most often be used.
Traditional emoji faces dominate the top two categories, with nearly 60% of all emoji sent. Loving or
romantic emoji, alongside hand gestures, round out the top five.

Emoji categories, from most to least used


1. Happy faces
2. Sad faces
3. Hearts
4. Hand gestures
5. Romantic
6. Other
7. Monkeys
8. Party
9. Holiday
10. Violent

11. Flowers
12. Clocks
13. Cats
14. Mammals
15. Body parts
16. Female
17. Booze
18. Religious
19. Music
20. Cold weather

21. Symbols
22. Junk food
23. Male
24. Funny
25. People
26. Stars
27. Transport
28. Bird
29. Farm animals
30. Words/letters

31. Plants
32. Money
33. Clothing
34. Pets
35. Food
36. Female-oriented
37. Moons
38. Wedding
39. Fruit
40. Royalty

41. Reptiles
42. Buildings
43. Hot weather
44. Sports
45. Raunchy
46. Ocean creatures
47. Insects
48. Geography
49. Drugs
50. Household

51. Tech
52. LGBT
53. Outer space
54. Baby
55. Asian food
56. Meat
57. Tools
58. Travel
59. Film
60. Reading materials

Emoji Report, April 2015

EMOJI CATEGORIES AS A PERCENT OF ALL EMOJI USAGE

CATEGORY LEADERS
LatAm
Spanish

US English

Canada English

Australia English

Spain Spanish

US Spanish

Female-oriented
Royalty
Tech
LGBT
Meat

Violent
Body parts
Money
Sports
Raunchy
Ocean creatures

Holiday
Mammals
Alcohol
Junk food
Birds
Clothing
Pets

Party

Sad faces
Monkeys

Baby

French

Turkish

Russian

Arabic

Malaysian

Hearts
Wedding

Happy faces
People

Romance
Cold weather

Flowers
Clocks
Symbols
Male
Stars
Plants
Fruit

Hand gestures
Female
Funny
Transport
Farm animals

Brazilian
Portuguese
Cats
Religious
Music
Moons

Emoji Report, April 2015

ENGLISH SPEAKING NATIONS


Canada scores highest for interests some might consider more American, including guns &
violent emoji (1.52% vs .97% avg), money (.47% vs .25% avg) and raunchy humor (.28% vs .
14% avg).
Australias emoji use seems to characterize it as the land of vice and indulgence, scoring the
highest for alcohol (twice the average - .80% vs .41% avg), drugs (70% more than average - .
17% vs .11% avg), holidays (60% more than average - 1.6% vs 1.1% avg) and junk food
(nearly twice the average - .68% vs .35% avg).
The UK only overindexes for wine in this chart, but also stands out for its use of the winking
face (twice the average - 2.1% vs 1.1% avg). The British also arent a fan of the very American
peace sign hand gesture (its used less than half as often as the average - .22% vs .56% avg).

DIVIDED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE


(UK vs US vs Canada vs Australia English)

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent the various depicted emoji

Emoji Report, April 2015

AMERICA

America leads the world in


use of these emoji

Section 2: DIVERSITY AND SENTIMENT


EMOJI DIVERSITY
Most emoji-savvy languages (those with the biggest emoji vocabulary)
Malaysian is most emoji-savvy - top 10 emoji make up 37% of all emoji used
Turkish is least savvy - top 10 emoji make up 57% of all emoji used
In the US, the top 10 emoji make up 40% of all emoji used
SENTIMENT
All languages are more positive than negative (in relation to emoji use)
Overall 70% positive, 15% negative
French are the most positive with 86% positive - Malaysian least positive at 60% positive
US Spanish speakers are the most negative at 22% negative - French least negative at 7%
negative

Emoji Report, April 2015

EMOJI SENTIMENT

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent various emotions

Top 5 overall emoji categories:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Happy faces (includes winks, kisses, smiles, grins) - 45%


Sad faces (includes sad and angry emoji) - 14%
Hearts (includes all colors of heart and the broken heart emoji) - 12.5%
Hand gestures (includes thumbs up, clapping hands, peace sign, etc) - 5.3%
Romantic (includes lipstick kiss mark, love letter, couple kissing) - 2.4%

Emoji Report, April 2015

TOP HAPPY FACES

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent various happy emotions

TOP SAD FACES

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent party activities

Emoji Report, April 2015

TOP HAND GESTURES

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent hand gestures

Section 3: CATEGORY DRILL-DOWN


HEARTS
French speakers use heart emoji more than 4X the average, and 3X+ more than the next
most heart-y language; 55% of emojis sent in French are hearts (vs 8% in US English and
US Spanish). French is the only language for which the leading emoji category is not happy
faces.
Average: 12.5%
Least: Malaysian, 4.8%

Emoji Report, April 2015

HAPPY FACE vs HEART EMOJI

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent happy faces or hearts

LGBT
Americans use LGBT emoji 30% more than the average, with .13% of all emojis sent one
of either a rainbow, men holding hands or women holding hands. The US is followed by
Canada (also .13% rounded) & Malaysian (.12%)
Average: .10%.
Least: Vietnamese .02% and French at .03%
ROMANCE
Russian speakers use 3X as much romantic emoji ( kiss mark, love letter, couple kissing)
than the average, and nearly twice as much as any other language, with 7% of all emoji
romantic.
Average: 2.36%
Least: Vietnamese at 1.05% and Australian English at 1.4%
US is slightly less romantic than average at 1.9%

RELIGIOUS
Brazilians use of (Western) religious emoji (prayer hands, church, star in night sky) is more
than double the average, with 1.1% of all emojis sent. French and Arabic speakers use
religious emoji and the average with 0.1% and 0.19%, respectively.
Average: .39%
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Emoji Report, April 2015

US Spanish, Latin American Spanish and US English use religious emoji half as
much as Brazilians, at .52%, .50% and 50% of the time, respectively.

ROYALTY
American English emoji users are more than twice as royal (crown/princess emoji) as
UK English emoji users, and nearly twice the average with .29%.
Average: .16%
UK is at .12%

SLEEP
Malaysians appear to be twice as sleepy as the rest of us, using sleep emoji more than
2X the average at 1.4% of all emoji sent.
Average: .60%
US is slightly sleepier than average at .64%
Least: French and Russian with .20% and .27%, respectively

CLOTHING
Australia uses clothing emoji nearly twice the average rate with .47%
Average: .25%

Arabic and Vietnamese speakers use bikini


emoji more than 3X as much as
other languages, both at .14%, vs .04% avg (US is .05%).

DRUGS
Australian English speakers use drug emoji (incl. cigarettes) 65% more than average,
with .17%. The pills emoji is their most popular drug emoji.
Average: .11%
US is slightly below average for use of drug emoji - .08%
Least: French at .07%
Mushroom emoji are used most by Arabic speakers; needles are used most in
Vietnamese (nearly 3X the average)
Vietnamese doesnt register for cigarettes (0%)

VIOLENT
Canadian English speakers are most violent in their emoji usage (1.52%), which is more
than 50% higher than the average. Emoji include gun, knife, punching fist, fire, explosion,
skull, bomb.
Average: .97%
US is 50% higher than average at 1.48%
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Emoji Report, April 2015

Least: German, .46%


US is #1 for the skull emoji (.20% vs .07% average) and fire emoji (.38% vs .17%
average)

ALCOHOL
Australia uses double the average amount of alcohol-themed emoji, with .80% of total
usage either beer, wine, or cocktail emoji.
Average: .41%
US is slightly higher than average at .50%
Least - Turkish with .09% and Arabic with .11%
Brazil and US Spanish are the #1 in beer (emoji) consumption, with .39% each

ALCOHOL EMOJI

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent alcohol

MEAT
The US is twice as meaty in its emoji usage, with double the average (.12%)
Average: .06%
Least: French at .02%

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Emoji Report, April 2015

JUNK FOOD
Australia uses nearly twice as much junk food emoji as any other language, with .68% of
all emoji something sinfully delicious. The most popular Australian junk food emoji - by far is the lollipop, using 5X as many lollipops than the average (.15% - vs an average of .03%).
Avg: .35%
US is slightly higher than average at .52%
Least: @ .23%: German, Arabic and Turkish
Canada really loves pizza, as they use more than double the average
The US most popular junk food emoji is also pizza at .10%

(Non junk food emoji) Canada and Australia use the coffee
emoji more than all other
languages, with .09% (more than double the average)
US is slightly higher than average for coffee emoji, at .08%
Average: .05%
Least: French, US Spanish and Vietnamese with 1-2%
JUNK FOOD

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent junk food

RAUNCHY
Canadians are twice as raunchy as all other languages, according to emoji. They use 2X
as many (.28%) raunchy humor emoji (banana, raised fist, eggplant, peach, cherries, Cancer
astrological symbol
).
Average: .14%
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Emoji Report, April 2015

US is raunchier than average at .23%


Vietnamese and French are half as raunchy as the average
US English speakers are the top users of the eggplant emoji (more than double
the average rate - .05% vs .02% avg)
Italians use the banana most (.11% vs .05% avg)

Latin American Spanish is the top user of the raised fist emoji
RAUNCHY

FUNNY
Funny emoji (farts and poop) are used by Malaysian speakers at nearly double the average
rate. (.68%).
Average: .33% avg
Russian is least funny with .16%
The US is funnier than average with .44% of all emojis sent in the funny category
Most of Malays win comes from the fart emoji, which they use .47% of the time, vs a .
07% average
Canadian (.48%) and Vietnamese (.45%) use the poop emoji most (US is slightly
higher than average in its poop emoji usage at .26%, average is .21%)

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Emoji Report, April 2015

PARTY
Spain Spanish speakers use party time emoji 72% more often than the average, 2.2% of
the time.
Average: 1.6%,
US is higher than average in party emoji use - 1.91%
Least- French, .6%
US is #1 for birthday cake with .36% (avg. .27%)
Arabic uses 4X as many dancing lady in red dress emoji (which is a John Travolta-like
character in Android emoji) as other languages; .79% (avg is .18%)
PARTY EMOJI

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent party activities

SPORTS
Canada is nearly 3X as sporty in its emoji usage than average, with .39% of all emoji
referencing sports or activity.
Average: .14%
US uses sports emoji at twice the average rate - .27%
Least: Vietnamese (7X lower than average) - .02%
US uses the basketball more than any other language - .07%
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Emoji Report, April 2015

The most common sports emoji for Canada is cycling with .16% - average is .01%
(US is average in bike emoji used with .1%)
Malaysian uses the soccer ball 3X more than other languages (.15%, next highest is
Latin American Spanish with .8%, avg is 5%)

MONEY
Canadians use money-related emoji nearly twice as much as other languages (.47% of
the time).
Average: .25%
US is also higher than average with its money emoji use with .45%
Least: German and French are tied at .12% each
TECH
The US uses 50% more tech emoji than the average with .15% of all emojis sent
Average: 10%
Australia follows the US closely
Least - German - .7%
PLANTS & FLOWERS
Flowers and plants emoji are used more than 4X the average rate by Arabic speakers
with 4.14% of all emoji sent.
Average: .89%
US is below average in its use of flora emoji with .75%
In Arabic, the favorite flower is the rose - by FAR - at nearly 8X the average rate (2.23% of all emojis), vs an average of .28%
Plants: Arabics use 4X the average amount of plant emoji (1.0% of all emoji sent,
vs .26% average, US is .34%)

The sprout

is the most popular plant (9X avg use), followed by the palm tree

(4.6X average use)


HOT WEATHER
Arabic speakers use 2/3 more sun/hot weather emoji than other languages (.25%)
Average: .15%
Followed closely by Australia (.25%) and Brazilian Portuguese (.23%)
US is just about average in its hot weather emoji usage at .16%

COLD WEATHER
Snow/rain/cold weather emoji is used twice as often by Russian speakers (.80%)
Average: .38% avg
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Emoji Report, April 2015

Least: Brazilian (.14%)


US is slightly above average in its hot weather emoji use - .52%
WEATHER EMOJI

Percentage of total emoji used in each language that represent weather

Section 4: ADDITIONAL CATEGORY DATA


PEOPLE

Most stereotypically female-oriented emoji (lipstick, high heels, pink bow, manicure, etc) is
used by the US at 0.29%; overall average is .20%
Least are Italian and German at 0.13%

Most happy faces - Turkish at 60.1% followed by Russian at 52.9%. The least happy faces
were Malaysian at 39.7% and LA Spanish at 40.8%
Spain Spanish uses the face-blowing-a-kiss emoji significantly more than average
(11.09% vs 7.33% avg)
Canada English, at 1.68%, overindexes for the whistling face (avg of .40%).
Vietnamese scores very high for the grimacing face, or awkward grin emoji
(7.84% vs 1.97% avg)
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Emoji Report, April 2015

US uses happy faces 46% of the time vs a 44% overall avg

More sad faces are used by US Spanish speakers with 21.9% and LA Spanish at 20.6%. The
least sad faces are French at 6.4% and German at 9.1%
US uses sad faces 13.9% of the time, overall avg is 14.3%

Most hand gestures - Malaysian wins with 10.5% vs 5.3% avg; least is French at 2.6% and
Turkish at 3.1%; US is 5.2%
Malaysian loves the thumbs up - using it 5.76% of the time vs an avg of 1.6%, the
thumbs down also with .22% vs .11% avg
Brazil loves the peace sign (1.0% vs .56% avg); UK uses it least (.22%)
The US favorite hand gestures are the thumbs up (1.4%) and OK symbol (1.11% vs .
81%)

Most male emoji - Arabic and Malaysian are on top with .79% and .67% (interestingly, nearly
half of these numbers - in both languages - come from the running man emoji ), average is .
33%
US is at .36% German is lowest at .12%

Most female emoji - Malaysian actually leads this, too with .74%, Arabic is .50%, US is .46%;
average is .42%
Least: French @ .15%
Malaysian really loves the woman raising hand emoji with .31% vs .14% avg (this is
the US favorite female emoji as well with .12%)

Babies - Leaders with .12% is a 3-way tie between US Spanish, Latin American Spanish and
Malaysian, avg is .08%
US is .10%, Germany is .05%, Vietnam is .03%

FUN

Most music emoji - Brazil at .82%, average is .39%


Russians use it the least with .13%; US is .50%
US uses the guitar the most (.03% vs .02% average)

Most holiday emoji (Xmas tree, jack-o-lantern, gift, Santa, snowman, 4-leaf-clover) - Australia
wins with 1.6% vs 1.05% average
US is 1.45%; Turkish is lowest at .38%
US and Canada use most Halloween pumpkins (.13% each vs .05% avg)
Malaysian use Christmas tree emoji the least (.09% vs .41% avg)

Most wedding emoji - French @ .39%, average .19%


The vast majority of the French wedding emoji used are the diamond and diamond
ring emojis (.36% together)
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Emoji Report, April 2015

Vietnamese lowest at .10%; US is .25%

NATURE

Most (cartoon) cat emoji - Brazil leads significantly with 2.21%


US is .63%, German is .36%

Most fruit emoji - Arabic is top with .43%, vs avg of .17%


Vietnam is least with .06%.
US is .18%
Russian loves oranges and Australians love strawberries and watermelon

Most moon emoji - Brazil with .56% vs .19% avg


Vast majority of Brazils moon emoji is the dark/black moon (.35% vs .13% avg)

Most star emoji - Arabic wins with .59% vs .30% avg

Most pets emoji - Australia with .38%, average is .22%


Followed by Canada at .36%; US is at .30% (lowest: Turkish @.11%)
Canada loves (realistic) cats the most - .07% vs .02% avg

Most insect emoji - Arabic leads with .26%, average is .12%


Ants were by far the most commonly used insect in Arabic with .10% vs .02% avg
US is .12%; lowest is Vietnamese with .03%

Most ocean creatures emoji - Canada with .23% vs .14% avg, least is French at .07%
Canada particularly loves octopus with .06%, vs .02% avg

Most farm animals - .58% Malaysia; .22% US and Turkish is lowest at .11%); .26% is average
Most of Malaysians farm emoji used are pigs (.41%) vs .16% avg; they also use a lot of
rams

Most mammals - Australian wins with .78% vs .58% avg, the rabbit emoji being the most
common with .09% vs .04% avg
Germans lead for mice with .08% (vs .03% avg), Arabic wins for camel with .05%
(vs .01% avg)
The most commonly used mammal emoji in the US is the bear at .06% vs .05% avg

Most outer space emoji - Canada leads at .16%, and most of this is the alien face emoji at .
08% (avg for all outer space emoji is .08%)
US is .11%

Most reptiles & amphibians - Malaysian leads at .30% vs .15% avg, lowest is French @ .06%
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Emoji Report, April 2015

Malaysia has the most frogs and turtles


Canada has the most snakes
US is .20%

How this research was conducted


These findings were taken from the SwiftKey Cloud database, which we occasionally analyze to identify
aggregate, anonymized trends about how people use words - and emoji. This also helps make sure our
predictions are as accurate and personalized as possible. You can learn more about our data and
SwiftKey Cloud here.

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