The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025: Overview Report (GSMA)

Summary

• 58% of the world's population, or 4.7 billion people, now use mobile internet on their own device, and about 200 million people began using it in 2024.p.10
• The usage gap stands at 38% of the global population, or 3.1 billion people, down from 40% in 2023.p.10
• The coverage gap stands at 4% of the global population, around 10 times smaller than the usage gap.p.10
• Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the lowest mobile internet usage, with only 25% of the population using it and a coverage gap of 10%.p.13
• In least developed countries only 25% of the population use mobile internet, compared with 54% across LMICs overall.p.14
• Closing the usage gap would provide $3.5 trillion in additional GDP from 2023 to 2030, and closing the gender gap in LMICs would add $1.3 trillion.p.4
• The Mobile Connectivity Index covers 173 countries against 32 indicators for 2014-2024.p.5

Key insights

1. Mobile accounted for 84% of broadband connections in 2024.p.4
2. Almost 90% of the growth in 2024 came from low- and middle-income countries, where 93% of those not using mobile internet live.p.10
3. More than 90% of those not using mobile internet live in areas covered by mobile broadband.p.10
4. A further 710 million individuals, 9% of the global population, use mobile internet on a device they do not own.p.10
5. North America, Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and Pacific have more than three quarters of their populations on mobile internet.p.13
6. While 60% of the population in other LMICs subscribe to mobile internet, the share drops to 29% in LLDCs and 38% in SIDS.p.14
7. The coverage gap reduced by around 40 million in 2024, with 75% of the reduction coming from Sub-Saharan Africa.p.8