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History & recordsEpisode 260Line0:57

World internet, mobile and landline use, 2005-2025

For every 100 people in the world · one person can have more than one phone plan

0:00 / 0:57

Source: ITU via World Bank (2005-2025); Microsoft AI Economy Institute (June 2026) · June 2026

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The numbersFills in as the clip plays
  1. 1Landline phone lines9.9
  2. 2Mobile phone plans111.5
  3. 3People online73.6

Narration

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Runs 0:57.

How to read this chart: Follow the path: slope is the rate of change and height at any point is the value. More on line charts.

The takeaway

From 2005 to 2025, the internet went from 16 to 74 people in 100. Landlines fell from 19 to 10.

The data

Explore the numbers

5010020052010201520202025Mobile phone … 111.5People online 73.6Landline phon… 9.9

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Period
Landline phone lines
2005: 19.1 → 2025: 9.9 (−48.2%)
High 19.1 (2005) · Low 9.9 (2025)
Mobile phone plans
2005: 33.9 → 2025: 111.5 (+229%)
High 111.5 (2025) · Low 33.9 (2005)
People online
2005: 15.6 → 2025: 73.6 (+372%)
High 73.6 (2025) · Low 15.6 (2005)

Source: ITU via World Bank (2005-2025); Microsoft AI Economy Institute (June 2026). As of June 2026.

Explore this chart

The chart from the video, redrawn live from its data. Scrub to any moment, or play it again.

What the numbers show

In 2025, an estimated 73.6 out of every 100 people in the world used the internet. In 2005 the figure was 15.6. Over the same twenty years, mobile phone subscriptions rose from 33.9 to 111.5 per 100 people, while landline subscriptions fell from 19.1 to 9.9.

The chart counts per 100 people so that a growing population does not hide the trend. Internet users are people: the share of the population who used the internet in the last three months. Landline and mobile numbers are subscriptions. A subscription is a phone line or a mobile plan, not a person, and one person can hold more than one. That is how mobile subscriptions can pass 100 per 100 people.

The five-year steps show different shapes. Mobile subscriptions climbed fastest early, from 33.9 per 100 people in 2005 to 76.6 in 2010, then slowed on the way to 111.5 in 2025. Internet users rose steadily: 15.6, 28.4, 39.9, 60.1 and 73.6 per 100 people at each step. Landlines moved the other way: 19.1, 17.8, 14.1, 11.5 and 9.9. The sources give the numbers, not the reasons, so this page does not say why.

Generative AI is the newest technology in the video, and it has its own chart because it is measured differently. Microsoft's AI Economy Institute estimates the share of people aged 15 to 64 who used a generative AI product. It put that at 16.3 percent worldwide in late 2025, 17.8 percent in the first quarter of 2026 and 18.8 percent in June 2026. Microsoft builds the estimate from its own anonymized usage data and adjusts it for device market share, internet access and population. The chart shows these three readings.

The landline, mobile and internet figures come from the International Telecommunication Union, as published through the World Bank, and the World Bank's data was last updated on 8 October 2026. The 2025 values are estimates. The AI figure is as of June 2026, and all of these numbers can be revised when newer data arrives. We found no worldwide series for television or smartphones that is counted the same way and goes back far enough, so they are not included.

To read the first chart, compare the shapes rather than the heights. Landline lines and mobile plans are counted per 100 people, the internet line is people, so the useful question is how quickly each one climbed or fell, not which line ends highest. For AI, the point is to keep watching: each new reading adds to the line.

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Transcript

  1. 74 out of every 100 people were online in 2025. In 2005, only 16 were.

  2. Picture 100 people. In 2005, there were 19 landline phone lines for them. By 2025, only 10. Mobile phone plans rose to 112, because some people have more than one. And 74 of them used the internet. Now think about AI, the newest wave. Late in 2025, about 16 in every 100 people of working age used AI. In early 2026, about 18. By June 2026, about 19. Phones and the internet were new once, too. So it is worth watching how this number grows in the years ahead.

  3. That's today's stat from NumberReels. Which new technology changed your life most: the phone, the internet or AI? Comment your answer. Like, share and subscribe for more at numberreels.com.

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