Since its commercial introduction in 2019, 5G coverage has expanded to cover 59 per cent of the world’s population in 2025.[1] 5G already reaches 86 per cent of people in high-income countries, but only 4 per cent in low-income countries, highlighting substantial disparities in deployment.
Europe leads with 78 per cent of the population covered by 5G, followed by the Asia-Pacific region with 73 per cent, and the Americas with 68 per cent. Coverage remains considerably lower in the Arab States (27 per cent), Africa (15 per cent) and the CIS (10 per cent). These disparities are mirrored in subscription levels (see Subscriptions section).
While 5G deployment is still underway in many regions, 4G remains a reliable connectivity solution, currently available to 94 per cent of the world’s population. However, in low-income countries, 4G reaches just 68 per cent of the population. In these countries, 3G continues to play an important role in providing Internet access.
Coverage by 3G or higher technology has reached 97 per cent of the world’s population. Yet extending networks to the remaining 3 per cent – approximately 282 million people – remains challenging. Since 2018, when coverage first surpassed 90 per cent, the global gain has amounted to just seven percentage points. Just over half of those without access to a mobile broadband network live in Africa.
In LDCs and LLDCs, 12 and 8 per cent of the population, respectively, remain without access to mobile broadband, underscoring the unfinished work towards achieving Target 9.c of Sustainable Development Goal 9: “to significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020.”
[1] In this publication, the term 4G is used instead of 4G/LTE, and 5G instead of 5G/IMT-2020, for readability.