[jyunwai]

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the United Nations tracks a precise statistic, and includes this updated as part of its annual report—with the most recent report just published this week (I believe yesterday, from the date of the press release).

More than three quarters of the population worldwide own a cell phone [1], as "78 per cent of the population aged 10 and over in 2023 own a mobile phone." Split by income level, 94% of high-income individuals, 84% of upper-middle-income individuals, and 70% of lower-middle-income individuals own a cell phone.

However, this is lowered to 47% for low-income individuals, which motivates many non-profits and governmental programs to provide free and/or donated cell phones to people in vulnerable groups.

[1] https://www.itu.int/itu-d/reports/statistics/2023/10/10/ff23...

[actionfromafar]

And if they don’t own a cell phone, chances are they have access to one somehow, like how many people didn’t own a dedicated landline but still could gain access, paid or by borrowing.