Mobile phone use now spans subscriptions, ownership, mobile internet access and smartphone-dependent connectivity. In 2024, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimated 9.1 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions worldwide, while GSMA estimated 4.7 billion mobile-internet users at the end of the year; these are different measures, not counts of the same people.
Key Mobile Phone Use Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2024, the world had 9.1 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions.
- In 2024, there were 112 mobile-cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants worldwide.
- In 2024, there were 95 active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants worldwide.
- Over 2020–2024, global mobile-broadband subscriptions grew by an average 5% per year.
- In 2024, four out of five people aged 10 and over worldwide owned a mobile phone.
- In 2024, 56% of people aged 10 and over in low-income economies owned a mobile phone.
- In 2024, 77% of females and 82% of males aged 10 and over worldwide owned a mobile phone.
- In 2024, 5.5 billion people were online worldwide.
- In 2024, 2.6 billion people, or 32% of the world’s population, were offline.
- In 2024, 83% of urban dwellers and 48% of rural residents worldwide used the Internet.
- At the end of 2024, 4.7 billion people, or 58% of the world’s population, used mobile internet.
- At the end of 2024, about 3.4 billion people remained unconnected to mobile internet.
- In 2024, 5G networks covered 51% of the world’s population.
- In 2023, 90% of U.S. adults said they had a smartphone.
- In 2023, 15% of U.S. adults were smartphone dependent, meaning they lacked high-speed home broadband.
- In 2023, 41% of U.S. adults said they used the Internet almost constantly.
- In 2024, mobile technologies and services generated about 5.8% of global GDP.
- In 2024, the global mobile ecosystem supported around 40 million jobs.
Contents
- Global mobile phone subscription statistics
- Mobile phone ownership and demographic gaps
- Internet participation, access and affordability
- Mobile internet adoption and 5G trends
- How Americans use smartphones and the Internet
- The economic footprint of mobile use
Global Mobile Phone Subscription Statistics
Subscription counts show the scale of mobile connectivity, but they should not be read as a headcount of users. The ITU notes that one person may hold multiple subscriptions and that connected devices may be included.
According to Facts and Figures 2024 – Subscriptions, the ITU estimated these 2024 figures:
| Measure | World | Selected comparison | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile-cellular subscriptions | 9.1 billion | 112 per 100 inhabitants | Subscriptions, not unique people |
| Active mobile-broadband subscriptions | — | 95 per 100 inhabitants | Active subscriptions, possibly including connected devices |
| Mobile-cellular subscriptions | — | 138 per 100 in high-income economies; 71 per 100 in low-income economies | ITU income-group aggregation |
| Mobile-cellular subscriptions | — | Nearly 147 per 100 in the CIS region | Regional subscription rate |
The global mobile-cellular subscription rate grew at an average 1.1% annually over 2020–2024, while mobile-broadband subscriptions grew at an average 5% annually over the same five-year period. These are multi-year average rates, not single-year changes.
The contrast between high-income and low-income economies is substantial: about 138 mobile-cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in high-income economies versus 71 per 100 in low-income economies in 2024. The CIS rate, nearly 147 per 100, illustrates why subscriptions can exceed 100 per 100 inhabitants without implying that every person owns multiple phones.
Mobile Phone Ownership Statistics and Demographic Gaps
Ownership is closer to a people-based measure than subscriptions, but it still differs from use. The ITU’s 2024 ownership estimates cover individuals aged 10 and over, and a person may own more than one phone.
Mobile phone ownership was estimated at four out of five people aged 10 and over worldwide in 2024. More than 95% owned a phone in high-income economies, compared with 56% in low-income economies.
Regional ownership and Internet-use measures also diverged. In Africa, 66% of the population owned a mobile phone in 2024, while 38% used the Internet; ownership exceeded Internet use by 14 percentage points in the Arab States and by 11 percentage points in Asia-Pacific.
The ITU reported a global sex gap in ownership among people aged 10 and over:
- 77% of females owned a mobile phone in 2024, compared with 82% of males.
- Women were about 7% less likely than men to own a mobile phone globally in 2024; this is a relative likelihood comparison, not a percentage-point gap.
- Women outnumbered men by 31% among people who did not own mobile phones globally in 2024; this describes the composition of non-owners, not population shares.
Internet Participation, Mobile Access and Affordability Data
Phone ownership does not guarantee Internet participation. The ITU estimated 5.5 billion people online worldwide in 2024, an increase of 227 million from its revised 2023 estimate, while 2.6 billion people, or 32% of the world’s population, remained offline.
The ITU’s 2024 connectivity findings show wide differences by income group and residence:
| Population group | Internet use in 2024 |
|---|---|
| High-income countries | 93% |
| Low-income countries | 27% |
| Least developed countries | 35% |
| Urban dwellers worldwide | 83% |
| Rural residents worldwide | 48% |
These percentages measure Internet use, not mobile-phone ownership or mobile-only use. Among people aged 15–24 worldwide, an estimated 79% used the Internet in 2024, 13 percentage points above the rest of the population.
The sex difference in Internet participation was also measurable: an estimated 70% of men and 65% of women used the Internet worldwide in 2024. The ITU estimated 189 million more men than women online, and this measure should not be substituted for the separate mobile-phone ownership estimates.
Affordability remains part of access. In low-income countries, the cost of a fixed-broadband subscription was nearly one-third of average monthly income in 2024; this is a fixed-broadband affordability measure, not the cost of a mobile-phone plan.
Mobile Internet Adoption and 5G Trends
Mobile internet measures active use rather than the existence of a subscription or network signal. GSMA estimated that 4.7 billion people, or 58% of the world’s population, used mobile internet at the end of 2024.
According to The Mobile Economy 2025, the number of mobile-internet users increased by 2.2 billion between 2015 and the end of 2024. Around 110 million people started using mobile internet in 2024, compared with more than 200 million new users each year during 2015–2021.
The remaining gap was large:
- About 3.4 billion people remained unconnected to mobile internet at the end of 2024.
- Almost 90% of people unconnected to mobile internet lived in areas already covered by mobile broadband.
- The mobile-internet usage gap was 38% of the population at the end of 2024, and GSMA estimated it was nine times the coverage gap.
Coverage itself was uneven. In 2024, 5G networks covered 51% of the world’s population, 84% of the population in high-income countries and only 4% in low-income countries.
Coverage is not the same as a subscription or actual use.
GSMA projects that mobile-internet users will reach 5.5 billion, or 64% of the global population, by 2030. This is a forecast, not an observed 2030 measurement.
How Americans Use Smartphones and the Internet
Pew Research Center surveyed 5,733 U.S. adults from May 19 to September 5, 2023. The Americans’ Use of Mobile Technology, Home Broadband findings are self-reported survey estimates for U.S. adults and should not be generalized beyond that population.
Smartphone ownership was 90% among U.S. adults. It varied by household income: 98% among adults in households earning at least $100,000, compared with 79% among those below $30,000.
| U.S. adult group | Smartphone dependence in 2023 |
|---|---|
| All adults | 15% |
| Household income below $30,000 | 28% |
| Household income $30,000–$69,999 | 19% |
| High-school education or less | 24% |
| College graduates | 6% |
Pew defines smartphone dependence as owning a smartphone but lacking high-speed home broadband. It therefore describes reliance on a smartphone for connectivity, not total time spent using a phone.
Nine-in-ten U.S. adults said they went online every day in 2023, and 41% said they used the Internet almost constantly. Almost-constant use was 62% among adults aged 18–29 versus 15% among adults aged 65 and older; it was 48% among urban adults, 43% among suburban adults and 32% among rural adults.
Economic Footprint and Measured Outcomes of Mobile Use
Mobile use has an economic footprint beyond individual device behavior. GSMA Intelligence modeled the mobile ecosystem’s contribution, so these figures are estimates of an industry ecosystem rather than causal estimates of what individual phone users produce.
In 2024, mobile technologies and services generated about 5.8% of global GDP. Productivity effects accounted for more than $4 trillion of the mobile ecosystem’s global economic benefits, but that modeled allocation is not a direct measurement of users’ personal productivity.
The same GSMA report estimated that the global mobile ecosystem supported around 40 million jobs in 2024, including 24 million direct jobs and 16 million indirect jobs.
It also estimated about $600 billion in fiscal contributions through taxes in 2024. This modeled contribution includes multiple tax categories and is not a household cost estimate.
GSMA forecasts the mobile ecosystem’s economic value added to reach almost $11 trillion by 2030. That figure is a modeled forecast, not an observed value and not a causal estimate of individual mobile-phone behavior.