Sub-Saharan Africa vs Turkey: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Turkey
How they compare
Sub-Saharan Africa currently reports 1.20 billion against 94.32 million in Turkey, a difference of 1.10 billion.
That makes Sub-Saharan Africa's figure about 12.7 times Turkey's.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 53 shared years of data; in 1960 it was Turkey ahead.
Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 20th and Turkey ranks 19th of 48 groups.
Across the 7 decades both report, Sub-Saharan Africa averaged higher in 3 and Turkey in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Sub-Saharan Africa | Turkey | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1980s | 398 | 3,092 | 2,694 | Turkey |
| 1990s | 1.46 million | 1.49 million | 30,264 | Turkey |
| 2000s | 113.18 million | 40.85 million | 72.33 million | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 2010s | 668.05 million | 72.37 million | 595.68 million | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 2020s | 1.06 billion | 89.05 million | 970.95 million | Sub-Saharan Africa |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, Sub-Saharan Africa or Turkey?
- Sub-Saharan Africa, at 1.20 billion against 94.32 million in Turkey as of 2025.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between Sub-Saharan Africa and Turkey?
- 1.10 billion, with Sub-Saharan Africa ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Sub-Saharan Africa and Turkey?
- 53 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do Sub-Saharan Africa and Turkey rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 20th and Turkey ranks 19th of 48 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.