It really doesn’t seem that long ago that mobile phones were exclusive items that most of us could only dream about owning. The growth in popularity of mobiles over the last decade has been unprecedented, but new data has just come out confirming just how enormous the change has been.

According to a report by the United Nations, six out of every ten people in the world now have a mobile account. The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) has stated that in 2002 the number of people with an account was 1 billion, and that this has now gone up to 4.1 billion.

The uptake in mobile phone use across the developing world has been the biggest area of growth. Of all of the mobile phones in use, two thirds are now used in developing countries, compared to less than half back in 2002. Africa has seen the most rapid rise in mobile phone use, with the number of users in the continent going up from 2% to 28% since 2002.

The ITU said that the growth in mobile use has “made great strides” in “connecting the unconnected”, and it is no secret that mobiles are changing the developing world at a rapid rate. People who do not have access to a landline can now keep in touch with each other, sending money via text messages and receiving updates on market prices for their goods.

The report also looked into Internet access, and found that although 20% of homes in the developed world now have fixed-line broadband access, this figure is only 5% globally. Internet use has doubled since 2002, with 23% of the population having access, but in this area there is still a big divide between rich and poor.