Japan vs South Africa: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- Japan
- South Africa
How they compare
South Africa currently reports 179.34 per 100 people against 178.43 per 100 people in Japan, a difference of 0.91 per 100 people.
The two have swapped places 7 times across 52 shared years of data; in 1960 it was South Africa ahead.
Japan ranks 11th and South Africa ranks 10th of 213 countries.
Across the 7 decades both report, Japan averaged higher in 4 and South Africa in 1.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | South Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 per 100 people | 0 per 100 people | 0 per 100 people | β |
| 1970s | 0 per 100 people | 0 per 100 people | 0 per 100 people | β |
| 1980s | 0.0932 per 100 people | 0.001 per 100 people | 0.0921 per 100 people | Japan |
| 1990s | 15.18 per 100 people | 2.68 per 100 people | 12.5 per 100 people | Japan |
| 2000s | 72.85 per 100 people | 55.57 per 100 people | 17.29 per 100 people | Japan |
| 2010s | 123.2 per 100 people | 140.04 per 100 people | 16.84 per 100 people | South Africa |
| 2020s | 165.25 per 100 people | 163.45 per 100 people | 1.79 per 100 people | Japan |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, Japan or South Africa?
- South Africa, at 179.34 per 100 people against 178.43 per 100 people in Japan as of 2024.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between Japan and South Africa?
- 0.91 per 100 people, with South Africa ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and South Africa?
- 52 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2023.
- How do Japan and South Africa rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- Japan ranks 11th and South Africa ranks 10th of 213 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), published as Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
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. It excludes subscriptions via data cards or USB modems, subscriptions to public mobile data services, private trunked mobile radio, telepoint, radio paging and telemetry services.