Six Billion Cell Phone Users Worldwide

The proportion of cell phone subscribers to the global population has narrowed dramatically as of the end of 2011. The U.N. announced that there are approximately six billion cell phone subscribers in the world, which accounts for 86 percent of the total world population of seven billion people.

China has more the one billion users and India has almost one billion users. The United States, albeit smaller in population, is a distant third with 325 million users.

This number is startling, especially when one takes into account how many without cell phones include babies and children – those too young to own cell phones – how many elderly people are without cell phones, and how many people live in remote parts of the world that have societies that function without technology. 

It’s particularly surprising to Americans, who next to certain regions of Asia may be the most advanced society, yet have only the third highest number of cell phone users.

In addition to the massive number of cell phone users around the world, there are 2.3 billion internet users. Of those, 70 percent live in wealthier and more industrial countries while 24 percent live in poorer and still developing countries.

These figures demonstrate just how advanced the entire world is getting, with technology pervading the lives of almost everyone. Although most people couldn’t have imagined such technologies a few decades ago, there are very few who can imagine life without them today.

The figures for the number of mobile phone and internet users are remarkable, as they are considered indispensible parts of daily life. More technologies are increasingly considered “indispensible.” Mobile phones and the internet were at one time considered luxuries, as many developing technologies are currently considered. 

As people become more and more inclined towards technology, the figures for the number of people who have tablets and smartphones are likely to grow.