United States vs World: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- United States
- World
How they compare
World currently reports 9.17 billion against 390.99 million in United States, a difference of 8.78 billion.
That makes World's figure about 23.5 times United States's.
Across all 45 years both countries report, World has been ahead every year.
United States ranks 3rd 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 | United States | World | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1980s | 1.13 million | 2.40 million | 1.26 million | World |
| 1990s | 35.24 million | 140.02 million | 104.78 million | World |
| 2000s | 243.64 million | 3.40 billion | 3.15 billion | World |
| 2010s | 323.51 million | 6.95 billion | 6.63 billion | World |
| 2020s | 372.57 million | 8.65 billion | 8.28 billion | World |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, United States or World?
- World, at 9.17 billion against 390.99 million in United States as of 2025.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between United States and World?
- 8.78 billion, with World ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for United States and World?
- 45 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do United States and World rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- United States ranks 3rd 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.