Low income's mobile cellular subscriptions was 445 million in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 42.72% from 311.8 million in 2015 (3.62% a year on average, compounded).
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 445 million | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 325 million | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 311.8 million | 2015 |
| Highest | 445 million | 2025 |
| Lowest | 0 | 1960 |
| Average since 2016 | 359.65 million | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 0 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Low income's mobile cellular subscriptions rose 27 million on 2024 (from 418 million to 445 million).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1979 to 2024), the average change was +3.55 million and a typical year strayed about 9.8 million from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.4 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 27 million in 2023 and the biggest yearly fall was 20.6 million in 2020. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is upward, about 14.42 million a year. A straight line explains 89% of the movement over 10 observed years.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
See how every economy compares in the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Low income | 445 million | 2025 |
| World | 9.17 billion | 2025 |
What this measures
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.
Limitations: Operators have traditionally been the main source of telecommunications data, so information on subscriptions has been widely available for most countries. This gives a general idea of access, but a more precise measure is the penetration rate - the share of households with access to telecommunications. During the past few years more information on information and communication technology use has become available from household and business surveys. Also important are data on actual use of telecommunications services. Ideally, statistics on telecommunications (and other information and communications technologies) should be compiled for all three measures: subscriptions, access, and use.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a sum.
All 39 values
| Year | Mobile cellular subscriptions |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 445,000,000 |
| 2024 | 418,000,000 |
| 2023 | 396,000,000 |
| 2022 | 369,000,000 |
| 2021 | 347,000,000 |
| 2020 | 325,000,000 |
| 2019 | 345,600,000 |
| 2018 | 325,100,000 |
| 2017 | 316,800,000 |
| 2016 | 309,000,000 |
| 2015 |
Mobile cellular subscriptions in nearby economies
- Afghanistan — 25.63 million (2024)
- Algeria — 54.05 million (2024)
- Bahrain — 2.56 million (2024)
- Djibouti — 558,607 (2023)
- Egypt, Arab Rep. — 113.19 million (2024)
- Iran, Islamic Rep. — 159.39 million (2024)
- Iraq — 46.08 million (2024)
- Israel — 16.65 million (2024)
- Jordan — 8.05 million (2024)
- Kuwait — 8.11 million (2023)
- Lebanon — 4.25 million (2022)
More infrastructure data for Low income
- Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 1 (2025)
- Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 220,720 (2023)
- Air transport, passengers carried — 22.26 million (2023)
- Industrial design applications, nonresident, by count — 1,359 (2024)
- Industrial design applications, resident, by count — 1,282 (2024)
- Patent applications, nonresidents — 1,155 (2024)
- Patent applications, residents — 7,341 (2024)
- Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 4,095 (2023)
- Fixed telephone subscriptions — 7 million (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Low income's mobile cellular subscriptions?
- 445 million in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- Is the latest change in mobile cellular subscriptions unusual for Low income?
- In 2025, Low income's mobile cellular subscriptions rose 27 million on 2024 (from 418 million to 445 million). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1979 to 2024), the average change was +3.55 million and a typical year strayed about 9.8 million from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.4 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.
- Where does this data come from?
- The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IT.CEL.SETS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.
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