China vs United States: Mobile phone subscriptions

China
1.87 billion
in 2024
United States
390.99 million
in 2024
China rank
1st
United States rank
3rd

Mobile phone subscriptions over time

  • China
  • United States
0500.0M1.0B1.5B2.0B198020022024

How they compare

China currently reports 1.87 billion against 390.99 million in United States, a difference of 1.48 billion.

That makes China's figure about 4.8 times United States's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 42 shared years of data; in 1980 it was United States ahead.

Globally, China ranks 1st and United States ranks 3rd 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
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