With phenomenal burst, PM Modi's Instagram stats leave world leaders trailing in his wake. Here are the numbers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has registered an extraordinary growth in his social media following, leaving him far and away the most followed world leader on Instagram.

As per the latest report, based on open information, PM Modi, who had just a year ago overtaken former US President Barack Obama to become the most followed head of state on the photosharing platform, has now more than doubled his following and has an extraordinary 15.5 million followers at the moment compared to 6.8 million followers in 2017.

Not only is his own increase in followers significant, but so is the lead he has now built up over the others. 

PM Modi is rather distantly followed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo (@Jokowi) who has 12.2 million followers. US President Donald Trump is in the third position with 10 million followers. Trump was in the same position (third) last year with 6.3 followers. While he has outpaced his immediate predecessor, even Donald Trump's follower growth doesn't hold a candle to Narendra Modi's.

Further, along with the growth in the Prime Minister's social media followers, the resulting traction has also grown commensurately. As per the report, his 80 posts have received an average of 873,302 interactions -- the maximum engagement compared to other leaders. Those who analyse figures like these will note that the Prime Minister has posted significantly fewer photos and videos than US President Donald Trump --  20 times less, in fact, with Trump having 1,556 posts on his profile. Accordingly, PM Modi has a 7.11 percent interaction rate compared to Trump’s 1.58 percent.

His picture with newly married Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and his wife, Indian actress Anushka Sharma meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the most likes. It has 1,860,694 likes currently, and is the most liked picture of any world leader.

His photo where he is standing on a bus stop in snowy Davos ahead of the World Economic Forum 2018 is the second most liked picture with a total of 1,636,896 likes at the moment.