BBC News - Over 5 billion mobile phone connections worldwide

See the link below for more stats

There are now more than five billion connections worldwide.

In many regions, penetration exceeds 100%, where there is more than one connection per person in the country.

Ben Wood, mobile phone analyst at CCS Insight said the mobile phone may be "the most prolific consumer device on the planet".

"If you just take the UK in 1987, when the first mobile companies launched, an industry insider predicted a maximum of 10,000 phones.

"Now almost every adult, child and domestic pet seems to have one, given that 30 million phones are sold every year in the UK," he said.

BBC News - Over 5 billion mobile phone connections worldwide