Europe & Central Asia vs South Africa: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- Europe & Central Asia
- South Africa
How they compare
Europe & Central Asia currently reports 1.25 billion against 114.79 million in South Africa, a difference of 1.14 billion.
That makes Europe & Central Asia's figure about 10.9 times South Africa's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 53 shared years of data; in 1960 it was South Africa ahead.
Europe & Central Asia ranks 19th and South Africa ranks 16th of 46 groups.
Europe & Central Asia has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Europe & Central Asia | South Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | β |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | β |
| 1980s | 636,016 | 398 | 635,618 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 1990s | 44.77 million | 1.23 million | 43.55 million | Europe & Central Asia |
| 2000s | 665.47 million | 27.79 million | 637.69 million | Europe & Central Asia |
| 2010s | 1.11 billion | 78.72 million | 1.03 billion | Europe & Central Asia |
| 2020s | 1.18 billion | 103.95 million | 1.08 billion | Europe & Central Asia |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, Europe & Central Asia or South Africa?
- Europe & Central Asia, at 1.25 billion against 114.79 million in South Africa as of 2025.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between Europe & Central Asia and South Africa?
- 1.14 billion, with Europe & Central Asia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Europe & Central Asia and South Africa?
- 53 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do Europe & Central Asia and South Africa rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- Europe & Central Asia ranks 19th and South Africa ranks 16th of 46 groups.
- 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.