China vs Middle income: Mobile cellular subscriptions

China
1.87 billion
in 2024
Middle income
6.20 billion
in 2022
China rank
1st
Middle income rank
4th

Mobile cellular subscriptions over time

  • China
  • Middle income
02.0B4.0B6.0B196019922024

How they compare

Middle income currently reports 6.20 billion against 1.87 billion in China, a difference of 4.33 billion.

That makes Middle income's figure about 3.3 times China's.

Across all 51 years both countries report, Middle income has been ahead every year.

China ranks 1st and Middle income ranks 4th of 214 countries.

Middle income has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade China Middle income Difference Ahead
1960s 0 0 0
1970s 0 0 0
1980s 1,373 26,804 25,431 Middle income
1990s 9.33 million 24.37 million 15.04 million Middle income
2000s 383.11 million 1.24 billion 857.57 million Middle income
2010s 1.30 billion 5.00 billion 3.70 billion Middle income
2020s 1.74 billion 6.20 billion 4.45 billion Middle income

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, China or Middle income?
Middle income, at 6.20 billion against 1.87 billion in China as of 2022.
What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between China and Middle income?
4.33 billion, with Middle income ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for China and Middle income?
51 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2022.
How do China and Middle income rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
China ranks 1st and Middle income ranks 4th of 214 countries.
Where does this data come from?
World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), published as Mobile cellular subscriptions. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

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China vs Middle income: Mobile cellular subscriptions. Statizoid, drawing on World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Retrieved 22 September 2026, from https://infrastructure.statizoid.com/compare/mobile-cellular-subscriptions/china/middle-income/

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About this data

Indicator
Mobile cellular subscriptions
Source
World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
261 places, 13,046 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

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.