Countries by Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people)

Ranking 2023

Values shown in per capita.

Analysis

Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people measures the density of active mobile connections relative to a country's population. The World Bank's indicator IT.CEL.SETS.P2 covers subscriptions to a public mobile telephone service that provide access to the PSTN using cellular technology; it includes the number of postpaid subscriptions and the number of active prepaid accounts that have been used during the last three months, and applies to all mobile cellular subscriptions that offer voice communications. Because one person can hold multiple SIM cards, values can exceed 100. The dataset covers 210 countries, with 77.1% of values drawn from 2023 and the remainder from within the last seven years. Data quality is rated 100% official across all datapoints, and the viability check identified 13 extreme statistical outliers at the 3-standard-deviation threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by territories and small states alongside several larger economies. Hong Kong SAR, China leads at 319.49 (rank 1), a value so far above the rest that it registers as a statistical outlier. Montenegro (rank 2, 207.24) and Sint Maarten (rank 3, 205.37) follow. Among larger economies, the United Arab Emirates ranks 5th at 199.42, Russia ranks 9th at 180.84, and Japan ranks 12th at 178.43. High values in these countries are consistent with widespread dual-SIM device use and active prepaid accounts counted alongside postpaid subscriptions. South Africa (rank 15, 171.51) and Thailand (rank 16, 168.64) also appear near the top, ahead of several high-income European countries.

In the middle tier, most high-income Western economies cluster between roughly 100 and 130 subscriptions per 100 people. The United States ranks 111th at 112.41, Australia ranks 110th at 112.51, and Canada ranks 151st at 94.15, notably lower than many peers. India ranks 167th at 80.56, despite being one of the world's largest mobile markets in absolute subscriber volume. At the lower end, countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific account for most of the bottom 30 ranks. Papua New Guinea ranks 207th at 34.06, Liberia ranks 208th at 32.06, and Korea, Dem. People's Rep. ranks 209th at 24.13. Kosovo ranks 206th at 34.54, which is notably low for a European territory. Micronesia, Fed. Sts. sits last at 19.99.

Because the metric counts subscriptions rather than unique users, countries with high rates of multiple-SIM ownership will appear higher than their actual connected population suggests. Active prepaid accounts are limited to those used in the last three months, but reporting standards for this threshold may vary across national telecommunications regulators. Territories and small jurisdictions with large transient or expatriate populations, such as Hong Kong or the UAE, can show inflated per-100 values relative to their resident populations. Countries experiencing conflict or economic instability may underreport or experience data collection gaps, making comparisons with stable economies imprecise. The 13 identified outliers in this dataset warrant particular caution when using top-ranked values as benchmarks.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code IT.CEL.SETS.P2, with a reference year of 2023. The unit is subscriptions per 100 people; higher values indicate greater subscription density. Per the source definition, mobile cellular telephone subscriptions are subscriptions to a public mobile telephone service that provide access to the PSTN using cellular technology. The indicator includes (and is split into) the number of postpaid subscriptions, and the number of active prepaid accounts (i.e. that have been used during the last three months). The indicator applies to all mobile cellular subscriptions that offer voice communications. The ranking covers 210 countries, all with data from within the last seven years (100% recency). 77.1% of datapoints are from 2023 specifically. Data quality is 100% official. The viability check identified 13 extreme outliers at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. The value range runs from 19.99 (Micronesia, Fed. Sts.) to 319.49 (Hong Kong SAR, China), a spread of 1,498.4%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 5.3%.

Sources

• World Bank