China vs United States: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- China
- United States
How they compare
China currently reports 1.87 billion against 390.99 million in United States, a difference of 1.48 billion.
That makes China's figure about 4.8 times United States's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 50 shared years of data; in 1960 it was United States ahead.
China ranks 1st and United States ranks 3rd of 214 countries.
Across the 7 decades both report, China averaged higher in 3 and United States in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1980s | 1,962 | 1.13 million | 1.13 million | United States |
| 1990s | 9.33 million | 35.24 million | 25.91 million | United States |
| 2000s | 383.11 million | 194.34 million | 188.77 million | China |
| 2010s | 1.30 billion | 323.51 million | 975.98 million | China |
| 2020s | 1.78 billion | 372.57 million | 1.41 billion | China |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, China or United States?
- China, at 1.87 billion against 390.99 million in United States as of 2024.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between China and United States?
- 1.48 billion, with China ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and United States?
- 50 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do China and United States rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- China ranks 1st and United States ranks 3rd 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.
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.