Mobile devices now outnumber people across the globe

There are now more mobile devices than people in the world, according to the latest statistic released by GSMA Intelligence.

According to the stats, there are now 7.229 billion mobile connections across the globe -- a growth of 6.1 percent year-on-year -- compared to a world population of 7.197 billion (going by the US Census Bureau's world population clock).

Note that the stats also include machine-to-machine (M2M) mobile connections, mind you -- and some folks have multiple phones. The actual number of unique mobile subscribers is 3.6 billion across the world.

In other words, half the world's population still don't have a mobile phone.

Kevin Kimberlin, chairman of Spencer Trask, commented: "In the evolution of our wireless world, we'll never again see such a crystal clear punctuation point for mobile progress!"

But he warned: "Don't be fooled by this 100 percent crossover point. Since many of us have two or more devices, this active user number obscures a harsh reality. Over half of the people in the world are not so fortunate. They still don't have a mobile phone. So we have more work to do".

Spencer Trask helped fund startup Millicom, which is teaming up with Facebook and Internet.org to help bring mobiles to the half of the world which isn't yet connected.

Kimberlin added: "So while we toast this mobile evolution milestone, let's redouble our efforts to connect the rest of the world".

Photo Credit: photobank.kiev.ua/Shutterstock

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