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What Does 1GB of Mobile Data Cost in Every Country?

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What Does 1GB of Mobile Data Cost in Every Country?

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What Does 1GB of Mobile Data Cost in Every Country?

Billions of people around the world rely on their mobile phones every day.

Even in a saturated market, mobile networks have continued to expand their reach. In the last five years alone, almost one billion additional people have gained access to mobile data services.

Despite the growing prevalence of these networks worldwide, the cost of gaining access can vary greatly from country to country—particularly when it comes to the price of mobile data.

Today’s chart uses figures from Cable.co.uk to showcase the average cost of one gigabyte (GB) of mobile data in 155 different countries and jurisdictions. Despite the vast global reach of the mobile economy, it’s clear it still has a long way to go to reach true accessibility.

Discrepancies in Mobile Data Costs

Researchers have identified several key elements that help explain the cost variation for mobile data between countries:

  1. Existing infrastructure (or lack thereof): This might seem counterintuitive, but most mobile networks rely on a fixed-line connection. As a result, countries with existing infrastructure are able to offer mobile plans with more data, at a cheaper price. This is the case for India and Italy. Countries with minimal or no infrastructure rely on more costly connection alternatives like satellites, and the cost typically gets passed down to the consumer.
  2. Reliance on mobile data: When mobile data is the primary source of internet in a particular region, adoption can become nearly universal. This high demand typically leads to an increase in competing providers, which in turn lowers the cost. Kyrgyzstan is a good example of this.
  3. Low data consumption: Countries with poor infrastructure tend to use less data. With mobile plans that offer smaller data limits, the overall average cost per GB tends to skew higher. Countries like Malawi and Benin are examples of this phenomenon.
  4. Average income of consumer: Relatively wealthy nations tend to charge more for mobile services since the population can generally afford to pay more, and the cost of operating a network is higher. This is apparent in countries like Canada or Germany.

The Cheapest Countries for 1 GB of Data

Even among the cheapest countries for mobile data, the cost variation is significant. Here’s a look at the top five cheapest countries for 1 GB of data:

Overall RankCountryAverage price of 1GB (USD)
1🇮🇳 India 9¢
2🇮🇱 Israel11¢
3🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan 21¢
4🇮🇹 Italy 43¢
5 🇺🇦 Ukraine46¢

India ranks the cheapest at $0.09 per GB, a 65% decrease in price compared to the country’s average cost in 2019.

Why is data so cheap in India? A significant factor is the country’s intense market competition, driven by Reliance Jio—a telecom company owned by Reliance Industries, one of the largest conglomerates in India. Reliance Jio launched in 2016, offering customers free trial periods and plans for less than a $1 a month. This forced other providers to drop their pricing, driving down the overall cost of data in the region.

Because these prices are likely unsustainable for the long term, India’s cheaper-than-usual prices may soon come to an end.

Another country worth highlighting is Kyrgyzstan, which ranks as the third cheapest at $0.21 per GB, ahead of Italy and Ukraine. This ranking is surprising, given the country’s minimal fixed-line infrastructure and large rural population. Researchers suspect the low cost is a result of Kyrgyzstan’s heavy reliance on mobile data as the population’s primary source of internet.

The Most Expensive Countries for 1 GB of Data

On the other end of the spectrum, here are the top five most expensive countries for one gigabyte of mobile data:

Overall RankCountryAverage price of 1GB (USD)
155🇲🇼 Malawi$27.41
154🇧🇯 Benin$27.22
153🇹🇩 Chad$23.33
152🇾🇪 Yemen$15.98
151🇧🇼 Botswana$13.87

A striking trend worth noting is that four out of five of the most expensive countries for mobile data are in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

A significant factor behind the high cost of data in SSA is its lack of infrastructure. With overburdened networks, the data bundles offered in the region are generally smaller. This drives up the average cost per GB when compared to countries with unlimited packages.

Another element that contributes to SSA’s high costs is its lack of market competition. In countries with multiple competing networks, such as Nigeria, the cost of data skews lower.

The Full Breakdown

The below table has a full list of all 155 countries and jurisdictions included in the data set. It helps demonstrate the stark contrast in the cost of mobile data between the most expensive and cheapest countries globally.

RankCountryAverage price of 1GB (USD)
1India9¢
2Israel11¢
3Kyrgyzstan21¢
4Italy43¢
5Ukraine46¢
6Kazakhstan46¢
7Somalia50¢
8Sri Lanka51¢
9Russian Federation52¢
10Vietnam57¢
11China61¢
12Sudan63¢
13Indonesia64¢
14Algeria65¢
15Australia68¢
16Pakistan69¢
17Poland70¢
18Bangladesh70¢
19Chile71¢
20Turkey72¢
21Tanzania73¢
22Dominican Republic74¢
23Mongolia74¢
24Iran75¢
25Kuwait77¢
26Myanmar78¢
27Denmark80¢
28France81¢
29Nepal86¢
30Belarus89¢
31Georgia93¢
32Ghana94¢
33Monaco98¢
34Western Sahara99¢
35Morocco99¢
36Brazil$1.01
37Romania$1.03
38Jordan$1.03
39Kenya$1.05
40Armenia$1.05
41Austria$1.08
42Egypt$1.09
43Moldova$1.12
44Malaysia$1.12
45Thailand$1.23
46Estonia$1.27
47Uzbekistan$1.34
48Ireland$1.36
49Zambia$1.36
50Tunisia$1.37
51Nigeria$1.39
52United Kingdom$1.39
53Philippines$1.42
54El Salvador$1.45
55Argentina$1.45
56Rwanda$1.48
57Slovenia$1.48
58Cambodia$1.50
59Afghanistan$1.55
60Uruguay$1.58
61Serbia$1.60
62Uganda$1.62
63Nicaragua$1.71
64Macedonia$1.75
65Spain$1.81
66Lithuania$1.85
67Azerbaijan$1.86
68Congo$1.94
69Sweden$2.07
70Guinea$2.08
71Timor-Leste$2.08
72Saudi Arabia$2.12
73Burundi$2.12
74Peru$2.13
75Lesotho$2.13
76Finland$2.14
77Guatemala$2.17
78Bulgaria$2.22
79Bahrain$2.27
80Paraguay$2.30
81Ethiopia$2.44
82Singapore$2.47
83Burkina Faso$2.47
84Croatia$2.48
85Mauritius$2.48
86Hong Kong$2.55
87Haiti$2.74
88Costa Rica$2.74
89Cameroon$2.75
90Albania$2.83
91Netherlands$2.98
92Bosnia and Herzegovina$3.04
93Honduras$3.12
94Côte d'Ivoire$3.20
95Ecuador$3.24
96Liberia$3.25
97Palestine$3.26
98Niger$3.30
99Senegal$3.30
100Mozambique$3.33
101Colombia$3.46
102Sierra Leone$3.69
103United Arab Emirates$3.78
104Latvia$3.79
105Lebanon$3.82
106Slovakia$3.84
107Jamaica$3.88
108Japan$3.91
109Germany$4.06
110Qatar$4.12
111Guinea-Bissau$4.12
112Mali$4.12
113Lao PDR$4.16
114Iraq$4.20
115South Africa$4.30
116Togo$4.50
117Oman$4.58
118Mauritania$4.63
119Tajikistan$4.65
120Libya$4.73
121Mexico$4.77
122Namibia$4.78
123Belgium$4.88
124Gabon$4.89
125Portugal$4.97
126Bolivia$5.09
127Gambia$5.10
128Norway$5.28
129Angola$5.29
130Hungary$5.32
131Papua New Guinea$5.40
132Taiwan$5.91
133Trinidad and Tobago$5.92
134New Zealand$6.06
135Syria$6.55
136Panama$6.69
137Czech Republic$7.95
138United States$8.00
139Central African Republic$8.25
140Switzerland$8.38
141Madagascar$8.81
142Puerto Rico$9.17
143South Korea$10.94
144Turkmenistan$11.44
145Greece$12.06
146Canada$12.55
147Equatorial Guinea$12.78
148Eswatini$13.31
149Cuba$13.33
150Cyprus$13.56
151Botswana$13.87
152Yemen$15.98
153Chad$23.33
154Benin$27.22
155Malawi$27.41

Interestingly, the highest average cost is 30,000% more than the cheapest average price.

The Technology Gap

Will we reach a point of equal accessibility across the globe, or will the technology gap between countries continue to widen?

With 5G networks on the rise, just seven countries are expected to make up the majority of 5G related investments. Time will tell what this means for adoption worldwide.

Editor’s Note: The methodology used by Cable.co.uk represents a region’s national average, based on both pre-paid and post-paid plans. While the data correctly represents each region’s average cost on 1 GB based on the chosen methodology, Cable.co.uk acknowledges that it may not reflect the way most people in a country consume data.

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Technology

Charted: The Jobs Most Impacted by AI

We visualized the results of an analysis by the World Economic Forum, which uncovered the jobs most impacted by AI.

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Charted: The Jobs Most Impacted by AI

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Large language models (LLMs) and other generative AI tools haven’t been around for very long, but they’re expected to have far-reaching impacts on the way people do their jobs. With this in mind, researchers have already begun studying the potential impacts of this transformative technology.

In this graphic, we’ve visualized the results of a World Economic Forum report, which estimated how different job departments will be exposed to AI disruption.

Data and Methodology

To identify the job departments most impacted by AI, researchers assessed over 19,000 occupational tasks (e.g. reading documents) to determine if they relied on language. If a task was deemed language-based, it was then determined how much human involvement was needed to complete that task.

With this analysis, researchers were then able to estimate how AI would impact different occupational groups.

DepartmentLarge impact (%)Small impact (%)No impact (%)
IT73261
Finance70219
Customer Sales671617
Operations651817
HR57412
Marketing56413
Legal46504
Supply Chain431839

In our graphic, large impact refers to tasks that will be fully automated or significantly altered by AI technologies. Small impact refers to tasks that have a lesser potential for disruption.

Where AI will make the biggest impact

Jobs in information technology (IT) and finance have the highest share of tasks expected to be largely impacted by AI.

Within IT, tasks that are expected to be automated include software quality assurance and customer support. On the finance side, researchers believe that AI could be significantly useful for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing.

Still interested in AI? Check out this graphic which ranked the most commonly used AI tools in 2023.

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