Germany vs South Africa: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- Germany
- South Africa
How they compare
South Africa currently reports 114.79 million against 109.20 million in Germany, a difference of 5.59 million.
That makes South Africa's figure about 1.1 times Germany's.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 53 shared years of data; in 1960 it was South Africa ahead.
Germany ranks 18th and South Africa ranks 16th of 214 countries.
Germany has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Germany | South Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1980s | 33,601 | 398 | 33,203 | Germany |
| 1990s | 6.09 million | 1.23 million | 4.87 million | Germany |
| 2000s | 77.13 million | 27.79 million | 49.34 million | Germany |
| 2010s | 99.55 million | 78.72 million | 20.83 million | Germany |
| 2020s | 106.56 million | 103.95 million | 2.61 million | Germany |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, Germany or South Africa?
- South Africa, at 114.79 million against 109.20 million in Germany as of 2024.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between Germany and South Africa?
- 5.59 million, with South Africa ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Germany and South Africa?
- 53 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do Germany and South Africa rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- Germany ranks 18th and South Africa ranks 16th 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.