Business & Markets · Mobile subscriptions · Nigeria
Nigeria’s mobile subscriptions fell to 70.8 per 100 people in 2024.
70.8 per 100 people
2024
Down 27.7 per 100 people from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
70.8 per 100 people
What it is. The measure divides all mobile cellular subscriptions by the population and scales the result to every 100 people. It counts subscriptions, so one person with two lines adds two, and the figure can pass 100 where many people hold several lines. It leaves out how many separate people own a phone and how often each line is used.
Higher is better. A higher figure means more connections for calls and data, so more subscriptions is better. Nigeria's latest figure, for 2024, is 70.8 per 100 people, down from 98.5 per 100 people a year earlier, a fall of 27.7 or 28.1%. That is the lowest reading since 2015. The highest in the same span was 99.6 per 100 people in 2022.
Why it matters. For households, a mobile line is the usual route to calls and mobile payments, so fewer lines per person means fewer connections in use. Telecom operators and firms that serve customers by phone work with a smaller base of lines than in 2022. The state has fewer active lines through which to reach citizens with digital services.
| Period | Mobile subscriptions · Nigeria |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 79.1 per 100 people |
| 2016 | 79 per 100 people |
| 2017 | 72.4 per 100 people |
| 2018 | 84.3 per 100 people |
| 2019 | 88.1 per 100 people |
| 2020 | 95.4 per 100 people |
| 2021 | 89.3 per 100 people |
| 2022 | 99.6 per 100 people |
| 2023 | 98.5 per 100 people |
| 2024 | 70.8 per 100 people |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Mobile subscriptions, Nigeria, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/business/mobile-subscriptions/nigeria
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
Strata AI commentary is coming — reviewed, dated, and generated only from the figures on this page.
Methodology
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people. Unit: per 100 people.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series IT.CEL.SETS.P2), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.