More People Have Mobile Phones than Electricty

When I first saw this chart it really knocked my socks off because it was so astounding to me. Check it out:

I’m not sure how this works exactly, but it say that more people have a mobile phone than have electricity. Do they take it into “town” to a charging station kind of like how many go for water? Unrelated is how many people don’t have safe drinking water. That’s a topic for a different blog, but it makes me sad to think about.

I’ve always thought that the mobile health opportunity internationally was tremendous. In so many countries they’re a mobile first internet community. Many won’t ever use a PC and internet in a web browser on a PC. Their only way to connect will be through a mobile device.

This is why mobile health is such a tremendous opportunity. So much good can come from it if it’s implemented properly. I look forward to seeing it happen.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

2 Comments

  • Easy explanation: A lost of people in developed countries have two or more mobile phones.
    We should try to maintain the perspective and develope adequate international health programmes: Easy access to fresh water and food, education, cheap antibiotics, quality primary care services. Mobile health could and shoul wait until the priorities are satisfied.

  • I once saw a homeless lady curled up in a corner talking on her cell phone while it was charging (plugged into a building’s external power outlet). Maybe she represents the majority of the homeless?

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