China vs World: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- China
- World
How they compare
World currently reports 9.17 billion against 1.87 billion in China, a difference of 7.30 billion.
That makes World's figure about 4.9 times China's.
Across all 48 years both countries report, World has been ahead every year.
China ranks 1st and World ranks 1st of 214 countries.
World has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | World | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1980s | 1,373 | 1.71 million | 1.71 million | World |
| 1990s | 9.33 million | 140.02 million | 130.69 million | World |
| 2000s | 558.05 million | 3.40 billion | 2.84 billion | World |
| 2010s | 1.30 billion | 6.95 billion | 5.65 billion | World |
| 2020s | 1.78 billion | 8.65 billion | 6.87 billion | World |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, China or World?
- World, at 9.17 billion against 1.87 billion in China as of 2025.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between China and World?
- 7.30 billion, with World ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and World?
- 48 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do China and World rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- China ranks 1st and World ranks 1st 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.