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- There are 89 cellphones for every 100 people in Sub-Saharan Africa
- With 167 phones per 100 people, South Africa is well above global average of 108
- Only 36% of people in Africa use the internet. World average is 63%
African countries have leapfrogged fixed-line technology and gone straight to mobile. There are 89 mobile phones for every 100 people living in the countries classified as Sub-Saharan Africa by the World Bank, but fewer than one landline (0.6) per 100 people (2022 figures).
Some African countries, such as South Africa (~167) and Kenya (~122), are well over the world average of 108 mobile phones per 100 people. Nigeria is close with ~102.
But the percentage of people in Africa who use the internet remains low: 36% compared with 92% in the US, according to World Bank 2021 figures. The global average was 63%.
There were 489-million unique mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, according to a recent GSMA report. That’s less than half (43%) of the population.
Only 287-million of them used mobile internet – a penetration rate of 25%. The cost of smartphones is a key reason why.
— 17 June, 2024Subscribe to the weekly newsletter for more charts like this
