Countries by Mobile cellular subscriptions

China tops the global ranking of mobile cellular subscriptions with 1,824,420,000 subscriptions in 2023, followed by India at 1,158,550,000. At the other end, Tuvalu records just 9,878 subscriptions, rank 210 of 210. The gap between first and last spans more than 18 billion percent, reflecting the vast differences in population size and market scale across the 210 countries covered.

Technology category

Ranking 2023

Countries by Mobile cellular subscriptions
Rank	Country	Value
1	China	1,824,420,000
2	India	1,158,550,000
3	United States	386,106,000
4	Indonesia	352,157,000
5	Russia	263,017,000
6	Nigeria	224,413,000
7	Japan	221,918,000
8	Brazil	213,295,000
9	Bangladesh	196,081,000
10	Pakistan	189,439,000
11	Iran	150,664,000
12	Mexico	144,740,000
13	Philippines	134,739,000
14	Vietnam	131,453,000
15	Thailand	120,921,000
16	South Africa	108,415,000
17	Egypt	106,319,000
18	Germany	105,400,000
19	Türkiye	92,231,000
20	Colombia	87,365,900
21	United Kingdom	84,340,000
22	South Korea	83,891,800
23	Italy	78,462,900
24	France	77,526,000
25	Ethiopia	71,424,300
26	Tanzania	70,215,100
27	Kenya	66,745,700
28	Myanmar	65,516,900
29	Argentina	62,709,200
30	Spain	61,190,500
31	DR Congo	56,268,400
32	Morocco	55,873,000
33	Côte d'Ivoire	53,601,500
34	Saudi Arabia	52,482,900
35	Poland	52,386,600
36	Algeria	51,522,100
37	Ukraine	50,328,100
38	Malaysia	50,136,500
39	Iraq	45,700,000
40	Peru	41,283,200
41	Nepal	39,602,600
42	Uzbekistan	38,106,900
43	Uganda	37,123,400
44	Canada	37,000,000
45	Sudan	34,671,300
46	Ghana	33,384,500
47	Sri Lanka	32,683,400
48	Australia	29,761,000
49	Cameroon	27,374,500
50	Burkina Faso	26,889,900
51	Chile	26,710,700
52	Mali	25,869,000
53	Kazakhstan	25,842,600
54	Angola	25,744,000
55	Hong Kong	23,779,100
56	Romania	23,564,000
57	Madagascar	23,539,300
58	Afghanistan	23,027,100
59	Senegal	22,400,200
60	Netherlands	21,232,000
61	United Arab Emirates	21,222,800
62	Zambia	21,151,200
63	Cambodia	21,049,600
64	Guatemala	20,609,600
65	Yemen	20,047,500
66	Venezuela	19,872,800
67	Ecuador	18,165,600
68	Niger	17,196,200
69	Syria	17,092,100
70	Benin	16,373,900
71	Tunisia	16,365,100
72	Guinea	15,303,900
73	Zimbabwe	14,973,800
74	Mozambique	14,962,400
75	Sweden	14,800,100
76	Israel	14,193,300
77	Libya	13,940,000
78	Czechia	13,620,800
79	Chad	13,559,500
80	Malawi	12,892,000
81	Tajikistan	12,845,900
82	Portugal	12,830,000
83	Rwanda	12,763,100
84	Bolivia	12,266,900
85	Belgium	12,087,300
86	Belarus	11,757,300
87	Switzerland	11,411,100
88	Greece	11,348,300
89	El Salvador	11,338,800
90	Austria	11,116,000
91	Azerbaijan	11,111,300
92	Dominican Republic	10,409,800
93	Hungary	10,176,100
94	Singapore	10,026,700
95	Somalia	9,905,940
96	Sierra Leone	8,929,190
97	Paraguay	8,665,060
98	Burundi	8,646,690
99	Serbia	8,532,020
100	Kuwait	8,113,880
101	Bulgaria	8,014,470
102	Honduras	7,921,350
103	Jordan	7,726,690
104	Kyrgyzstan	7,681,220
105	Cuba	7,667,310
106	Slovakia	7,627,770
107	Denmark	7,549,290
108	Haiti	7,499,080
109	Costa Rica	7,443,280
110	Nicaragua	7,222,330
111	Finland	7,140,000
112	Togo	7,051,820
113	Oman	6,984,830
114	Panama	6,981,820
115	New Zealand	6,562,000
116	North Korea	6,353,440
117	Turkmenistan	6,254,680
118	Norway	6,092,910
119	Georgia	5,911,130
120	Republic of Congo	5,865,800
121	Ireland	5,757,780
122	South Sudan	5,353,000
123	Laos	4,963,760
124	Mongolia	4,841,940
125	Uruguay	4,801,570
126	Qatar	4,701,610
127	Croatia	4,562,730
128	Mauritania	4,559,000
129	Botswana	4,440,310
130	Lebanon	4,251,770
131	Palestine	4,148,420
132	Puerto Rico	4,036,760
133	Moldova	4,010,870
134	Armenia	3,959,450
135	Lithuania	3,915,930
136	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3,749,900
137	Papua New Guinea	3,538,600
138	Jamaica	3,268,370
139	Gabon	3,046,520
140	Gambia	2,815,280
141	Guinea-Bissau	2,758,650
142	Slovenia	2,737,560
143	Albania	2,614,760
144	Namibia	2,597,930
145	Bahrain	2,415,720
146	Latvia	2,257,180
147	Mauritius	2,104,700
148	Estonia	2,053,470
149	Trinidad and Tobago	2,017,390
150	Eritrea	2,015,830
151	Central African Republic	1,979,150
152	North Macedonia	1,920,400
153	Liberia	1,722,890
154	Lesotho	1,603,040
155	Eswatini	1,579,960
156	Timor-Leste	1,559,360
157	Cyprus	1,433,500
158	Macao	1,374,130
159	Montenegro	1,312,960
160	Fiji	1,027,450
161	Suriname	988,899
162	Luxembourg	960,900
163	Comoros	934,198
164	Guyana	924,876
165	Equatorial Guinea	893,441
166	Bhutan	751,989
167	Malta	749,302
168	Maldives	744,814
169	Kosovo	593,382
170	Cabo Verde	590,354
171	Brunei	582,919
172	Djibouti	558,607
173	Solomon Islands	484,835
174	Iceland	478,176
175	Bahamas	399,630
176	French Polynesia	333,905
177	Barbados	323,482
178	Vanuatu	286,107
179	Belize	270,536
180	New Caledonia	263,224
181	Seychelles	236,586
182	Antigua and Barbuda	186,182
183	Saint Lucia	176,399
184	Curaçao	173,926
185	Sao Tome and Principe	146,497
186	Aruba	140,815
187	Samoa	134,320
188	Andorra	126,214
189	Grenada	111,955
190	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	102,976
191	Cayman Islands	99,737
192	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)	86,542
193	U.S. Virgin Islands	79,121
194	Bermuda	68,164
195	Kiribati	67,927
196	Greenland	66,425
197	Tonga	64,838
198	Faroe Islands	57,146
199	Dominica	56,929
200	Saint Kitts and Nevis	55,592
201	Liechtenstein	50,313
202	San Marino	41,000
203	Monaco	40,538
204	Gibraltar	36,708
205	British Virgin Islands	35,595
206	Palau	24,000
207	Micronesia	22,410
208	Marshall Islands	15,913
209	Nauru	10,287
210	Tuvalu	9,878

Analysis

This metric counts mobile cellular subscriptions across 210 countries using World Bank World Development Indicators indicator code IT.CEL.SETS, with data from 2023. As defined in the source: '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 of.' Values are reported in absolute subscription counts, where higher values indicate more subscriptions. Coverage is strong: all 210 countries meet the recency threshold, with 77.1% reporting data from the latest year (2023) and 100% classified as official data. Viability checks identified 16 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, which is notable given the wide value range from 9,878 to 1,824,420,000.

The top of the ranking is dominated by the most populous countries. China ranks 1st with 1,824,420,000 subscriptions, India ranks 2nd with 1,158,550,000, and the United States ranks 3rd with 386,106,000. Indonesia (rank 4, 352,157,000) and the Russian Federation (rank 5, 263,017,000) follow. Nigeria (rank 6, 224,413,000) and Japan (rank 7, 221,918,000) are closely matched despite significant differences in population size. Brazil (rank 8, 213,295,000), Bangladesh (rank 9, 196,081,000), and Pakistan (rank 10, 189,439,000) complete the top ten. Population size is the clearest common factor among top-ranked countries, as absolute subscription counts scale directly with the number of potential subscribers.

The middle of the ranking shows notable variation. Canada ranks 44th with 37,000,000 subscriptions, placing it below Uganda (rank 43, 37,123,400) and Sudan (rank 45, 34,671,300). Australia ranks 48th with 29,761,000. Hong Kong SAR, China ranks 55th with 23,779,100, ahead of Netherlands (rank 60, 21,232,000) and United Arab Emirates (rank 61, 21,222,800). Singapore ranks 94th with 10,026,700 subscriptions. Among smaller territories, Tuvalu (rank 210, 9,878), Nauru (rank 209, 10,287), Marshall Islands (rank 208, 15,913), and Micronesia (rank 207, 22,410) occupy the bottom positions. Korea, Dem. People's Rep. ranks 116th with 6,353,440 subscriptions.

This metric counts subscriptions, not unique subscribers or users, meaning one person holding multiple SIM cards contributes multiple subscriptions. Countries with high rates of multi-SIM usage will appear higher than their population size alone would suggest. The metric does not reflect actual active usage beyond the three-month prepaid threshold, nor does it capture mobile internet access separately from voice subscriptions. Countries with unstable reporting infrastructure or ongoing conflicts may have less reliable figures. The consistency check found that only 77.1% of countries reported data from 2023 specifically, meaning some values may be carried over from prior years, which can introduce timing differences across the ranking.

Methodology

Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code IT.CEL.SETS, data year 2023. The metric is defined in the source note as follows: '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 of.' Values are absolute subscription counts; higher values rank better. The dataset covers 210 countries, all meeting the recency threshold of data within the last 7 years. 100% of data points are classified as official quality. The latest year (2023) has coverage for 162 of 210 countries (77.1%). Viability checks flagged 16 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The value range runs from 9,878 (Tuvalu, rank 210) to 1,824,420,000 (China, rank 1), a spread of approximately 18,469,428%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 5.7%, well within the 50% volatility threshold, indicating stable reporting overall.

Sources

World Bank