How Much Mobile Data Do People Around the World Use Each Month?

I cam across an interesting (and not to mention colorful) graphic recently that takes a deep dive into the cost of cell phone bills around the world, and which countries’ citizens are paying more for their mobile data than others. The difference in mobile data costs was truly staggering, with the country at the high end paying 1000 times as much for 1GB of data as the country at the bottom of the list.

So which two countries are book-ending this list with such an incredible difference in costs to be able to access the same kinds of information? At the low end is Israel with a very low cost of just 5 cents for each gigabyte of data. At the high end is Equatorial Guinea with a massive mobile data cost of $49.57 per gigabyte! You can further explore the full list of countries and their mobile data costs here, as I turn my focus to another interesting part of this graphic.

Beneath the long list of countries lay a diagram (which can be found below) of the average number of gigabytes smartphone user from different regions use per month (as of 2020). Not only was it interesting to see how my mobile data usage compares to others in my region and around the world, but it also shows the estimated gigabyte usage per month in 2026. Let me tell you, I was not expecting such a drastic increase in usage over just 6 years. The global average usage per smartphone was 9 GB in 2020 and is estimated to increase fourfold to 35 GB in 2026!

North America is estimated to have the highest usage in 2026 with an average of 48 GB of mobile data used per smartphone. Western Europe is a close second with an estimated usage of 47 GB per smartphone when 2026 rolls around.

It already feels like a majority of the population spends most of their time with their face buried in their phone and yet its predicted to get four times worse in just a few short years. Have you adopted any new habits to try and combat your smartphone addiction?