China vs India: Mobile phone subscriptions

China
1.87 billion
in 2024
India
1.15 billion
in 2024
China rank
1st
India rank
2nd

Mobile phone subscriptions over time

  • China
  • India
0500.0M1.0B1.5B2.0B198020022024

How they compare

China currently reports 1.87 billion against 1.15 billion in India, a difference of 718.65 million.

That makes China's figure about 1.6 times India's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 45 shared years of data; in 1980 it was India ahead.

Globally, China ranks 1st and India ranks 2nd of 212 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Mobile phone subscriptions
Source
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
212 places, 9,009 data points, 1980–2024
Last refreshed