Baseline
Topics / Mobility & Connectivity Mobility & Connectivity

The world has never been so connected: there are more mobile phone subscriptions than people, and seven in ten people are online.

0.2 → 110 mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people worldwide, 1990 vs. 2024. Source: ITU via World Bank
16 % → 71 % of the world population use the internet, 2005 vs. 2024. Source: ITU via World Bank
2.1 M → 7.3 M students studying abroad worldwide, 2000 vs. 2023. Source: UNESCO
Mobile phone subscriptions, worldPer 100 people, 1990–2024
0501000.21101990199520052010201520202024 Source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), via World Bank (CC BY 4.0). Values above 100 mean some people have more than one subscription.

A phone in every pocket

In 1990, mobile phones were a luxury for a few. Within one generation they reached almost every country and income group – connecting farmers to markets, families across borders and students to knowledge.

Share of people using the internet, worldPercent of the population, 2005–2024
0 %50 %100 %16 %71 %20052010201520202024 Source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), via World Bank and Our World in Data.

A world that learns and moves together

Cheap data made the internet a tool for billions. At the same time, more young people than ever study in another country: the number of internationally mobile students has more than tripled since 2000.

What still needs doing

Around three in ten people are still offline, most of them in low-income countries – and studying abroad remains out of reach for most young people in poorer regions.

Sources

  1. World Bank – Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people (IT.CEL.SETS.P2), based on ITU data. data.worldbank.org
  2. Our World in Data – Share of the population using the internet (ITU; World Bank WDI). ourworldindata.org
  3. UNESCO – Higher Education Global Trends Report (May 2026): internationally mobile students.
Last reviewed: 11 November 2026 · All figures rounded.