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It’s Official: More People Have Access to a Mobile Phone than Toilets in the World

A recent UN study addresses a shocking statistic: more people today have access to cell phones than toilets. Out of the world’s seven billion people, six billion have access to mobile devices and only 4.5 billion of the world’s total population has access to toilets.

India, responsible for 60 percent of the global population, is comprised of 1.2 billion mobile subscribers (half of its population) yet 366 million, or one-third of its population, lack access to basic sanitation. This fact is equally alarming and significant.         

While UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson calls for action to “mobilize the resources to rapidly increase access to basic sanitation,” we must also make note of and respond to the proliferation of these mobile devices. In America alone, 87 percent of American adults own a cell phone. And in 2012, the United States saw a 55 percent increase in smartphone subscriptions, bringing the total number of subscribers to 98 million.

Moreover, nearly 42 percent of U.S. mobile users have smartphones that allow them to answer e-mails and texts, search the Internet and consume on an hourly basis. With 44 percent of cell phone owners sleeping next to their phone for fear that they will miss a notification, it is simply impossible to deny the growing ubiquity and use of mobile devices.

As a provider of transformative digital and Web-based contact center solutions, we at Vocalcom believe it is important for call center managers to take note of this explosive and continuing growth. Just half of the population of India and 87 percent of American adults incorporate cell phones in their everyday lives. Knowing this makes transformative mobile and digital call center solutions essential to SMBs and large enterprises.

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