Digital Age: Mobile phones outnumber humans, says new report

Information and communication technology has turned into an integral part of our lives. Today we are living in a complete era of digitalization which undoubtedly offers a great promise to transform lives. We are living in a virtual world where people prefer electronic communication over physical interaction.

According to a UN agency report, the world recorded more mobile phones than the people using it, credit goes to the Internet, the most important invention of all times and its affordability. The International Telecoms Union, a specialized agency of the United Nations, has estimated 107 mobile cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2018, which basically means more mobile phones than people.

ITU estimates that at the end of 2018, 51.2 per cent of the global population, or 3.9 billion people, were using the Internet, while an estimated 5.28 billion mobile broadband subscriptions in the world were recorded. A decade ago, 753 million individuals were using the Internet in developed nations, compared to 1,028 million in developing nations. Interestingly, there are 2,868 million individuals in developing nations as of 2018 compared to 794 million in developed nations, the report said.