- Technology & Telecommunications›
- Telecommunications›
Global mobile connections from 2008 to 2020
Premium statistics
Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships).
A paid subscription is required for full access.
Global mobile connections from 2008 to 2020
Number of mobile connections worldwide from 2008 to 2020 (in billions)*
by Statista Research Department,
last edited
Mar 3, 2015
The statistic shows the number of mobile connections worldwide from 2008 to 2020. The number of global mobile connections is predicted to reach around 8.24 billion by 2017.
Mobile connections - additional information
The first prototype of a handheld mobile phone was presented to the world in 1973, but it took more than three decades until mobile phones became accessible and affordable for almost everyone. In fact, figures show that there are over 7.5 billion worldwide mobile connections today, a number slightly higher than the estimated global population. By 2020, the number of active mobile phone subscriptions is expected to increase to over 9 billion. Classic mobile phone use is on the decline however, with some 61 percent of worldwide mobile phone users owning a smartphone as of 2015.
The world region with most mobile subscriptions is currently Asia Pacific, due to the area’s large population. As of 2015, Asia Pacific boasted over 3.7 billion cellular connections, three times more than both South and North America combined. In fact, no less than seven Asian states (including transcontinental Russia) are present in a top 10 ranking of countries with the highest number of mobile- subscriptions. As of 2014, China is the largest market of mobile phone subscriptions in the world, home to some 1.3 billion mobile-cellular users, the equivalent of about one fifth of worldwide subscriptions. By 2019, this number is expected to increase to 1.46 billion subscriptions.
Although the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), which includes some of the former member-states of the Soviet Union, ranks last in terms of number of mobile phone subscriptions, the region is first in terms of mobile phone penetration. As of 2015, there are an estimated 138.1 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the area, due to the fact that many users have multiple mobile phones at the same time.
Number of mobile connections worldwide from 2008 to 2020 (in billions)*
| Mobile connections in billions | |
|---|---|
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| Mobile connections in billions | |
|---|---|
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
| - | - |
Exclusive Premium statistic
You need a Premium Account for unlimited access.
Full access to 1m statistics
Incl. source references
Available to download in PNG, PDF, XLS format
Premium Account
only $49 / month
*
Exclusive content
Exclusive Premium statistic
You need a Premium Account for unlimited access.
Full access to 1m statistics
Incl. source references
Available to download in PNG, PDF, XLS format
Premium Account
only $49 / month
*
© Statista 2019
About this statistic
Show source
Download
Settings
Share
Chart type
Datalabels
Share on Social Media
Download started
Please be patient - this may take a moment
Please be patient - this may take a moment
Description
Source
More information
by Statista Research Department,
last edited
Mar 3, 2015
The statistic shows the number of mobile connections worldwide from 2008 to 2020. The number of global mobile connections is predicted to reach around 8.24 billion by 2017.
Mobile connections - additional information
The first prototype of a handheld mobile phone was presented to the world in 1973, but it took more than three decades until mobile phones became accessible and affordable for almost everyone. In fact, figures show that there are over 7.5 billion worldwide mobile connections today, a number slightly higher than the estimated global population. By 2020, the number of active mobile phone subscriptions is expected to increase to over 9 billion. Classic mobile phone use is on the decline however, with some 61 percent of worldwide mobile phone users owning a smartphone as of 2015.
The world region with most mobile subscriptions is currently Asia Pacific, due to the area’s large population. As of 2015, Asia Pacific boasted over 3.7 billion cellular connections, three times more than both South and North America combined. In fact, no less than seven Asian states (including transcontinental Russia) are present in a top 10 ranking of countries with the highest number of mobile- subscriptions. As of 2014, China is the largest market of mobile phone subscriptions in the world, home to some 1.3 billion mobile-cellular users, the equivalent of about one fifth of worldwide subscriptions. By 2019, this number is expected to increase to 1.46 billion subscriptions.
Although the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), which includes some of the former member-states of the Soviet Union, ranks last in terms of number of mobile phone subscriptions, the region is first in terms of mobile phone penetration. As of 2015, there are an estimated 138.1 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the area, due to the fact that many users have multiple mobile phones at the same time.
- Show sources information
- Show publisher information
- Release date
- March 2015
- Region
- Worldwide
- Survey time period
- 2008 to 2014
- Supplementary notes
-
* Excluding M2M
** Forecast
Source
- Show sources information
- Show publisher information
- Release date
- March 2015
More information
- Region
- Worldwide
- Survey time period
- 2008 to 2014
- Supplementary notes
-
* Excluding M2M
** Forecast
Other statistics on the topic
Social Media & User-Generated Content
Global social networks ranked by number of users 2019
Social Media & User-Generated Content
Number of monthly active Instagram users 2013-2018
Mobile Internet & Apps
Most popular global mobile messaging apps 2019
+Mobile Internet & Apps
Number of apps available in leading app stores 2019
Statista Accounts:
Access All Statistics. Starting from $588 / Year
Basic Account
Get to know the platform
You only have access to basic statistics.
This statistic is not included in your account!
Premium Account
Your perfect start with Statista
- Instant access to 1m statistics
- Download in XLS, PDF & PNG format
- Detailed references
$49 / Month *
Corporate Account
Full access
Corporate solution including all features.
* All products require an annual contract.
Prices do not include sales tax.
Prices do not include sales tax.
Leading companies trust Statista:
Statista is a great source of knowledge, and pretty helpful to manage the daily work.Christof Baron
CEO, MindShare Germany
Statistics on "Mobile internet usage worldwide"
- Mobile audiences and access
The most important statistics
- Global digital population as of July 2019 (in millions)Worldwide digital population as of July 2019
- Mobile broadband internet subscription rate in 2018, by regionMobile broadband internet subscription rate 2018, by region
- Percentage of all global web pages served to mobile phones from 2009 to 2018Share of mobile phone website traffic worldwide 2018
- Leading countries with the most mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2017Mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2017, by country
- Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022 (in exabytes per month)Global mobile data traffic 2017-2022
- Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022, by region (in exabytes per month)Mobile data traffic worldwide 2017-2022, by region
- Global mobile data traffic CAGR from 2017 to 2022, by regionGlobal mobile data traffic CAGR 2017-2022, by region
- Mobile internet traffic as percentage of total web traffic as of March 2019, by countryShare of mobile internet traffic in selected countries 2019
- Mobile apps
The most important statistics
- Mobile app consumer spending worldwide from 2018 to 2023, by store (in billion U.S. dollars)Annual global mobile app consumer spending 2018-2023, by store
- Mobile app downloads worldwide from 2018 to 2023, by store (in billions)Annual global mobile app downloads 2018-2023, by store
- Number of apps available in leading app stores as of 3rd quarter 2019Number of apps available in leading app stores 2019
- Mobile app verticals with the highest install and user base growth in 2018 (Growth Index score)Fastest growing mobile app categories 2018
- Average three month user retention and churn rate of mobile apps worldwide as of 2nd half 2018Global mobile app three month user retention and churn 2018
- Percentage of mobile apps that have been used only once from 2010 to 2019Mobile apps: abandonment rate 2012-2019
- Mobile app store revenues for gaming and non-gaming apps worldwide during 1st half 2019 (in billion U.S. dollars)Global gaming and non-gaming app store revenues H1 2019
- Leading Android apps in the Google Play Store worldwide in June 2019, by revenue (in million U.S. dollars)Leading Android apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Mobile social
The most important statistics
- Global mobile social network penetration rate as of January 2019, by regionGlobal mobile social penetration rate 2019, by region
- Active mobile social media penetration in American countries as of January 2019Active mobile social media penetration in the Americas 2019
- Active mobile social media penetration in European countries in January 2018Active mobile social media penetration in European countries 2018
- Active mobile social media penetration in Middle East and North African countries in January 2017Active mobile social media penetration in MENA countries 2017
- Active mobile social media penetration in selected Asia-Pacific countries as of January 2019Active mobile social media penetration in selected Asia-Pacific countries 2019
- Most popular social networks worldwide as of July 2019, ranked by number of active users (in millions)Global social networks ranked by number of users 2019
- Most popular global mobile messenger apps as of July 2019, based on number of monthly active users (in millions)Most popular global mobile messaging apps 2019
- Leading social networking apps in the Apple App Store worldwide in June 2019, by number of downloads (in millions)Leading iPhone social networking apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Mobile media
The most important statistics
- Leading entertainment apps in the Apple App Store worldwide in June 2019, by number of downloadsLeading iPhone entertainment apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Leading entertainment apps in the Apple App Store worldwide in June 2019, by revenue (in million U.S. dollars)Leading iPhone entertainment apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Leading music and audio apps in the Google Play Store worldwide in June 2019, by number of downloads (in millions)Leading Android music apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Leading music and audio apps in the Google Play Store worldwide in March 2019, by revenue (in U.S. dollars)Leading Android music apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Global mobile video traffic from 2017 to 2022 (in petabytes per month)Global mobile video traffic 2017-2022
- Devices used to watch online video worldwide as of August 2018Devices used to watch online video worldwide 2018
- Devices used to watch online video worldwide as of August 2018, by age groupDevices used to watch online video worldwide 2018, by age group
- Mobile share of global digital video plays from 3rd quarter 2013 to 2nd quarter 2018Worldwide mobile video play share 2013-2018
- Mobile commerce
The most important statistics
- Most popular payment methods for everyday transactions according to internet users worldwide as of June 2018Distribution of consumer transactions worldwide 2018, by payment channel
- Share of internet users worldwide who used a mobile payment service in the last month as of 4th quarter 2018, by regionGlobal mobile payment usage penetration 2018, by region
- Mobile share of retail e-commerce sales transactions in selected countries as of 2nd quarter 2018M-commerce share of e-retail sales 2018, by country
- Distribution of global e-commerce sessions revenue as of June 2018, by source and mediumShare of e-commerce session revenue worldwide 2018, by source and medium
- Distribution of retail website visits and orders worldwide as of 1st quarter 2019, by deviceGlobal online retail website visits and orders 2019, by device
- Retail website visit duration worldwide as of 1st quarter 2019, by device (in minutes)Global online retail website visits duration 2015-2019, by device
- Average value of global online shopping orders as of 1st quarter 2019, by device (in U.S. dollars)Global online shopping order value 2019, by device
- Average value of global online shopping orders as of 1st quarter 2019, by platform (in U.S. dollars)Global online shopping order value 2019, by platform
Discover Statista
Need help with using Statista for your research?
Tutorials and first steps
Further Content: Statistics, Studies, and Topic Pages
Statistics
- Latin America: 5G share of mobile connections 2022-2025
- Latin America: number of 5G connections 2020-2025
- Worldwide number of mobile phone subscribers
- Number of mobile connections in the Nordics 2017
- Mobile connections as a percentage of the population in the Nordics 2017
- Countries with the highest mobile cellular subscription penetration 2018
- Global unique mobile subscribers 2010-2025, by region
- Global LTE connections 2010-2017
- Number of LTE connections in Latin America 2016-2018
- Number of LTE connections in Latin America 2018-2022
- Forecast number of mobile users worldwide 2019-2023
- Forecast: mobile users in Europe 2010-2020
- Forecast: mobile subscriptions in the Americas 2010-2020
- Forecast: mobile subscriptions in Asia 2010-2020
- Share of 4G connections of overall mobile connections in APAC 2016-2025
- 4G LTE connections worldwide 2012-2020
- Forecast: mobile users in Asia 2010-2020
- Forecast: mobile users in the Americas 2010-2020
- Number of mobile subscriptions in Luxembourg 2010-2017
- Brazil: mobile phone connections per 100 inhabitants 1996-2018
Studies
- Mobile internet usage in Poland
- Mobile communications in Poland
- The Mobile Economy 2018
- Global mobile trends 2018
- The Mobile Economy 2017: Europe 2017
- iPhone
- Nokia
- Mobile devices in Denmark
- Mobile communications
- Telecoms.com Intelligence Annual Industry Survey 2018
- Mobile phone usage in France
- Global Race to 5G - Spectrum and Infrastructure Plans and Priorities
- The 5G era in the US
- Spectrum Landscape for Mobile Services
- LTE to 5G: The Global Impact of Wireless Innovation
Statistics on "Mobile internet usage worldwide"
- Worldwide digital population as of July 2019
- Mobile broadband internet subscription rate 2018, by region
- Share of mobile phone website traffic worldwide 2018
- Mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2017, by country
- Global mobile data traffic 2017-2022
- Mobile data traffic worldwide 2017-2022, by region
- Global mobile data traffic CAGR 2017-2022, by region
- Share of mobile internet traffic in selected countries 2019
- Share of mobile internet traffic in global regions 2019
- Share of global mobile website traffic 2015-2019
- Countries with the fastest average mobile internet speed 2019
- Average global mobile and fixed broadband download & upload speed worldwide 2019
- Daily internet usage per capita worldwide 2011-2021, by device
- Annual global mobile app consumer spending 2018-2023, by store
- Annual global mobile app downloads 2018-2023, by store
- Number of apps available in leading app stores 2019
- Fastest growing mobile app categories 2018
- Global mobile app three month user retention and churn 2018
- Mobile apps: abandonment rate 2012-2019
- Global gaming and non-gaming app store revenues H1 2019
- Leading Android apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Leading Android apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Leading iPhone apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Leading iPhone apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Leading iPad apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Leading iPad apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- In-apps last active session duration worldwide in 2017-2018, by category
- Average duration of in-app engagement sessions 2017-2018, by region
- Global mobile social penetration rate 2019, by region
- Active mobile social media penetration in the Americas 2019
- Active mobile social media penetration in European countries 2018
- Active mobile social media penetration in MENA countries 2017
- Active mobile social media penetration in selected Asia-Pacific countries 2019
- Global social networks ranked by number of users 2019
- Most popular global mobile messaging apps 2019
- Leading iPhone social networking apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Leading iPhone social networking apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Leading Android communication apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Leading Android communication apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Number of monthly active Instagram users 2013-2018
- Daily active users of Snapchat 2014-2019
- Leading iPhone entertainment apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Leading iPhone entertainment apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Leading Android music apps worldwide 2019, by downloads
- Leading Android music apps worldwide 2019, by revenue
- Global mobile video traffic 2017-2022
- Devices used to watch online video worldwide 2018
- Devices used to watch online video worldwide 2018, by age group
- Worldwide mobile video play share 2013-2018
- Global mobile phone video viewers 2016-2021
- Distribution of consumer transactions worldwide 2018, by payment channel
- Global mobile payment usage penetration 2018, by region
- M-commerce share of e-retail sales 2018, by country
- Share of e-commerce session revenue worldwide 2018, by source and medium
- Global online retail website visits and orders 2019, by device
- Global online retail website visits duration 2015-2019, by device
- Global online shopping order value 2019, by device
- Global online shopping order value 2019, by platform
- Leading types of retail apps worldwide 2018
- Global consumer mobile device usage for in-store product research in 2019, by country
- Latin America: 5G share of mobile connections 2022-2025
- Latin America: number of 5G connections 2020-2025
- Worldwide number of mobile phone subscribers
- Number of mobile connections in the Nordics 2017
- Mobile connections as a percentage of the population in the Nordics 2017
- Countries with the highest mobile cellular subscription penetration 2018
- Global unique mobile subscribers 2010-2025, by region
- Global LTE connections 2010-2017
- Number of LTE connections in Latin America 2016-2018
- Number of LTE connections in Latin America 2018-2022
- Forecast number of mobile users worldwide 2019-2023
- Forecast: mobile users in Europe 2010-2020
- Forecast: mobile subscriptions in the Americas 2010-2020
- Forecast: mobile subscriptions in Asia 2010-2020
- Share of 4G connections of overall mobile connections in APAC 2016-2025
- 4G LTE connections worldwide 2012-2020
- Forecast: mobile users in Asia 2010-2020
- Forecast: mobile users in the Americas 2010-2020
- Number of mobile subscriptions in Luxembourg 2010-2017
- Brazil: mobile phone connections per 100 inhabitants 1996-2018
Statista Accounts:
Access All Statistics. Starting from $588 / Year
Related topics
About Statista
Statista offers dossiers and reports on over 170 industries. With Statista you are always able to make informed decisions and boost your work efficiency.
Internet & Telecommunications
- Social Media
- E-Commerce
- Online Video & Entertainment
- Advertising & Marketing
Consumer Goods & FMCG
- Alcoholic Beverages
- Cleaning Products
- Cosmetics & Personal Care
- Food & Nutrition
Retail & Trade
- Health & Hygiene
- International Trade
- Shopping Behavior
- Sports & Leisure
Travel, Tourism & Hospitality
- Business Travel
- Leisure Travel
- Accomodation
- Restaurants
Society
- Demographics
- Economy
- Education & Science
- Politics & Government
Transportation & Logistics
- Aviation
- Rail Transport
- Vehicles & Road Traffic
- Water Transport
Save statistic in .XLS format
You can only download this statistic as a Premium user.
Save statistic in .PNG format
You can only download this statistic as a Premium user.
Save statistic in .PDF format
You can only download this statistic as a Premium user.
Show source references
As a Premium user you get access to the detailed source references and background information about this statistic.
Show details about this statistic
As a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic.
Bookmark statistics
As soon as this statistic is updated, you will immediately be notified via e-mail.
Change statistics options
You need at least a Premium Account to use this feature.
Exclusive Corporate feature
This feature is limited to our corporate solutions.
Please contact us to get started with full access to dossiers, forecasts, studies and international data.
Corporate Account
We use cookies to personalize contents and ads, offer social media features, and analyze access to our website. In your browser settings you can configure or disable this, respectively, and can delete any already placed cookies. For details, please see your browser’s Help section (by pressing F1). Please see our privacy statement for details about how we use data.