Telephone (mainlines and mobile phone) subscribers (per 1,000 people) by country
Please cite the International Telecommunication Union for third-party use of these data. Fixed lines are telephone mainlines connecting a customer's equipment to the public switched telephone network. Mobile phone subscribers refer to users of portable telephones subscribing to an automatic public mobile telephone...
What the numbers show
Telephone (mainlines and mobile phone) subscribers (per 1,000 people) is currently reported for 53 countries. The highest value is 1,797 per 1,000 people in Seychelles; the lowest is 55.47 per 1,000 people in Eritrea.
The median across all reporting countries is 590.18 per 1,000 people, and the mean is 698.17 per 1,000 people.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 32.
Telephone (mainlines and mobile phone) subscribers: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seychelles | 1,797 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 151.8% | volatile |
| 2 | Libya | 1,713 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,186.0% | volatile |
| 3 | Botswana | 1,502 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 457.8% | volatile |
| 4 | South Africa | 1,347 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 285.0% | volatile |
| 5 | Mauritius | 1,298 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 168.8% | volatile |
| 6 | Tunisia | 1,275 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 753.1% | volatile |
| 7 | Morocco | 1,243 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 507.3% | volatile |
| 8 | Gabon | 1,188 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 701.4% | volatile |
| 9 | Egypt | 1,116 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 710.5% | volatile |
| 10 | Algeria | 1,075 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,582.0% | volatile |
| 11 | Namibia | 1,032 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 792.5% | volatile |
| 12 | Mauritania | 956.38 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,822.7% | volatile |
| 13 | Congo | 941.83 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,659.5% | volatile |
| 14 | Cabo Verde | 940.76 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 337.8% | volatile |
| 15 | Côte d'Ivoire | 873.94 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,344.4% | volatile |
| 16 | Benin | 870.11 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 3,073.3% | volatile |
| 17 | Ghana | 859.2 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 3,353.5% | volatile |
| 18 | Gambia | 817.3 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,111.4% | volatile |
| 19 | Eswatini | 788.9 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 799.8% | volatile |
| 20 | Senegal | 759.68 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,275.5% | volatile |
| 21 | Zimbabwe | 749.23 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,559.5% | volatile |
| 22 | Sudan | 744.2 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 3,700.0% | volatile |
| 23 | Sao Tome and Principe | 729.85 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,823.9% | volatile |
| 24 | Mali | 689.83 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 10,596.3% | volatile |
| 25 | Kenya | 681.67 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 2,304.4% | volatile |
| 26 | Zambia | 612.27 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 2,992.9% | volatile |
| 27 | Nigeria | 590.18 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 8,527.1% | volatile |
| 28 | Equatorial Guinea | 589.41 per 1,000 people | 2010 | up 2,663.2% | volatile |
| 29 | Lesotho | 579.32 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,370.0% | volatile |
| 30 | Tanzania, United Republic of | 558.81 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 4,203.9% | volatile |
| 31 | Cameroon | 556.93 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,606.1% | volatile |
| 32 | Togo | 543.45 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,767.1% | volatile |
| 33 | Angola | 499.24 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 4,632.0% | volatile |
| 34 | Uganda | 497.31 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 3,557.9% | volatile |
| 35 | Liberia | 492.44 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 16,348.1% | volatile |
| 36 | Guinea-Bissau | 475.18 per 1,000 people | 2010 | up 5,200.1% | volatile |
| 37 | Burkina Faso | 461.09 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 4,245.1% | volatile |
| 38 | Guinea | 442 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 4,514.0% | volatile |
| 39 | Madagascar | 413.01 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 3,078.7% | volatile |
| 40 | Rwanda | 409.86 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 3,907.2% | volatile |
| 41 | Central African Republic | 407.7 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 7,611.2% | volatile |
| 42 | Sierra Leone | 343.25 per 1,000 people | 2010 | up 4,499.3% | volatile |
| 43 | Mozambique | 331.95 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 2,485.9% | volatile |
| 44 | Chad | 320.75 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 8,258.1% | volatile |
| 45 | Comoros | 318.38 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,971.7% | volatile |
| 46 | Niger | 300.5 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 14,180.8% | volatile |
| 47 | Malawi | 268.19 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 2,702.4% | volatile |
| 48 | Djibouti | 233.55 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 1,253.8% | volatile |
| 49 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 231.74 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 7,286.0% | volatile |
| 50 | Burundi | 226.77 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 2,631.6% | volatile |
| 51 | Ethiopia | 176.5 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 3,717.4% | volatile |
| 52 | Somalia | 80.19 per 1,000 people | 2010 | up 465.0% | volatile |
| 53 | Eritrea | 55.47 per 1,000 people | 2011 | up 576.8% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- North Africa 1,160 per 1,000 people
- Africa 652.53 per 1,000 people
- Sub-Saharan Africa 553.27 per 1,000 people
- Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) 553.23 per 1,000 people
- Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa 503.91 per 1,000 people
- Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa and Nigeria 482.46 per 1,000 people
About this data
Please cite the International Telecommunication Union for third-party use of these data. Fixed lines are telephone mainlines connecting a customer's equipment to the public switched telephone network. Mobile phone subscribers refer to users of portable telephones subscribing to an automatic public mobile telephone service using cellular technology that provides access to the public switched telephone network.