LinkedIn boasts 200 million members from over 200 countries

In the time it took you to read the introduction to this article, 20 new members signed up to the service, at a rate of 2 every second.

Such is the popularity of LinkedIn that they now boast more than 200 million users, "an important and exciting milestone for the company," wrote Deep Nishar, senior VP for products and user experience at LinkedIn.

"This milestone is more than just a metric -- it's a reminder of the global footprint and the scale of impact our network has each day," Nishar added.

LinkedIn passed 100 million users a little under two years ago, in March 2011, and has since focused on other countries to grow that number. The network is now offering its service in 19 different languages and says more than 64% of its users live outside the United States.

After the U.S., India, Brazil and the UK have the most LinkedIn users, and currently the fastest growing countries are Columbia, Indonesia and Turkey. According to the company, 74 million users are based in the U.S., 11 million are in the U.K., 7 million are in Canada, 18 million are in India and 11 million are based in Brazil.

It comes as no surprise to learn that tech firms dominate the network (4 million), with the next highest group represented being financial services with 2.03 million (see infographic). However, searching LinkedIn will reveal a vast diversity of companies and individuals onboard.

The network has diversified in other ways, too. It's no longer a directory of professionals and firms, today it has more of a community feel about it as well as being a go-to source for news and making contacts in a multitude of disciplines.

Tags: LinkedIn, online directory, professional services, social network