More SIMs Than People: China's Mobile Subscription Rate Tops 128 Per 100

A Rate That Exceeds the Population

When a country’s mobile cellular subscription rate surpasses 100 per 100 people, it signals something important: a meaningful share of the population carries more than one active SIM card. China crossed that threshold years ago and has continued climbing. By 2023, the country recorded 128.25 mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people — a figure that places it firmly in the company of markets where multi-device and multi-SIM ownership is routine rather than exceptional.

The year prior, in 2022, the rate stood at 124.20 per 100 people. The roughly four-point rise between 2022 and 2023 suggests that penetration is still expanding even at these elevated levels, driven by a combination of new device adoption, secondary SIMs for travel or data plans, and continued network rollout into less-connected regions.

What a Rate Above 100 Actually Means

Subscription rates are counted per 100 people in the total population, not per 100 adults or per 100 mobile users. A rate of 128.25 does not mean that 128 out of every 100 individuals own a phone — it means the total number of active SIM-based subscriptions, when divided by the population and multiplied by 100, yields that figure.

Several factors explain why this number exceeds 100:

• Dual-SIM devices: Smartphones sold in China frequently support two SIM cards simultaneously. Users may maintain one SIM for voice calls and another for mobile data, or keep a secondary SIM for a different regional carrier when traveling domestically.
• Business and personal separation: Many professionals maintain separate SIMs for work and personal use, a practice common across East and Southeast Asia.
• IoT and machine-to-machine connections: Some national statistics include SIM cards embedded in connected devices — vehicles, logistics trackers, smart meters — which inflate the per-capita count beyond what individual human users alone would produce.
• Prepaid churn and overlap: Prepaid SIMs that have not yet been deactivated can temporarily inflate counts even after a user has switched providers.

The Role of State-Owned Carriers

China’s mobile market is dominated by two state-owned operators that together account for the overwhelming majority of subscriptions. This duopoly structure — with a third, smaller state carrier rounding out the field — means that network investment decisions, pricing strategies, and rural expansion programs are shaped as much by policy directives as by competitive market forces.

Government-backed infrastructure investment has been a consistent driver of coverage expansion, particularly into rural and mountainous areas where private operators in other markets might find the economics unattractive. The result is a network that reaches a very high proportion of the geographic territory, which in turn supports subscription growth even in areas with lower population density.

The push toward 5G has also been a state priority. Carriers have been directed to accelerate 5G rollout, and the availability of 5G-capable handsets at relatively accessible price points has encouraged upgrades — and in some cases, the addition of a second SIM to maintain 4G connectivity as a fallback.

Trend Context: From Near-Zero to Saturation

China’s mobile subscription data, which spans several decades in the Our World in Data dataset, tells a story of one of the fastest technology adoption curves in recorded history. In the early 1990s, the rate was effectively zero. By the mid-2000s, it had climbed into double digits. The 100-per-100 threshold was crossed in the 2010s, and the rate has continued to rise since.

The move from 124.20 in 2022 to 128.25 in 2023 represents a continuation of that upward drift rather than a dramatic acceleration. At this stage of market maturity, large year-on-year jumps are unlikely. Growth is incremental, driven by the factors described above rather than by first-time adopters entering the market.

Interpreting Saturation-Level Data

For analysts and policymakers, subscription rates above 100 require careful interpretation. They are not a straightforward measure of how many people have mobile access — that figure is likely somewhat lower, since some individuals account for multiple subscriptions. They are better understood as a measure of market activity: how many active connections exist relative to the population.

In China’s case, a rate of 128.25 per 100 people reflects a mature, deeply penetrated market where mobile connectivity is effectively universal among the adult population, and where secondary subscriptions have become common enough to push the aggregate count well past the population baseline.

The data also underscores the scale of the infrastructure required to support this level of connectivity. Hundreds of millions of simultaneous connections, spread across a geographically vast country, represent an engineering and logistical achievement that continues to expand year on year.

Looking Ahead

With the 2023 rate at 128.25 and the 2022 rate at 124.20, the trajectory remains upward. Whether that trend continues will depend on 5G adoption rates, the pace of IoT device deployment, and any policy shifts affecting how subscriptions are counted or reported. What is clear is that China’s mobile market, already one of the largest and most active in the world, shows no sign of contraction.

Source: Our World in Data. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Disclaimer: This post is generated from public datasets for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, medical, or professional advice. Figures reflect the source dataset as fetched on the date shown above and may have been updated since. Meridian Intelligence makes no warranty as to accuracy or fitness for a particular purpose.

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