South Korea vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- South Korea
- Sub-Saharan Africa
How they compare
Sub-Saharan Africa currently reports 1.20 billion against 89.22 million in South Korea, a difference of 1.11 billion.
That makes Sub-Saharan Africa's figure about 13.4 times South Korea's.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 51 shared years of data; in 1960 it was Sub-Saharan Africa ahead.
South Korea ranks 21st and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 20th of 214 countries.
Across the 7 decades both report, South Korea averaged higher in 2 and Sub-Saharan Africa in 3.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | South Korea | Sub-Saharan Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1980s | 9,677 | 497.5 | 9,180 | South Korea |
| 1990s | 5.11 million | 1.46 million | 3.65 million | South Korea |
| 2000s | 37.48 million | 113.18 million | 75.70 million | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 2010s | 58.80 million | 668.05 million | 609.25 million | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 2020s | 78.70 million | 1.06 billion | 981.30 million | Sub-Saharan Africa |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, South Korea or Sub-Saharan Africa?
- Sub-Saharan Africa, at 1.20 billion against 89.22 million in South Korea as of 2025.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between South Korea and Sub-Saharan Africa?
- 1.11 billion, with Sub-Saharan Africa ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for South Korea and Sub-Saharan Africa?
- 51 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do South Korea and Sub-Saharan Africa rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- South Korea ranks 21st and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 20th 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.