200,000 Text Messages Are Sent Every Second

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In celebration of World Statistics Day, the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a division organized to identify and produce internationally comparable statistics concerning the telecommunication sector, has released a new report, "The World in 2010."

Some of the reports most interesting findings:

  • The total number of text messages that will be sent this year is predicted to reach 1.6 trillion, or about 200,000 every second.
  • The United States and the Philippines are the two most text-happy countries in the world and, together, they account for 35 percent of all text messages sent out.
  • Ninety percent of the world's population now has access to mobile networks.
  • By the end of the year, it is predicted that there will be 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions globally.
  • 143 countries now offer 3G services, up from 95 in 2007.
  • The number of Internet users around the world doubled between 2005 and 2010.

Read the full story at Switched or InformationWeek.

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Nicholas Jackson is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees the Health channel. A former media aggregator for Slate, he has also worked for Encyclopaedia Britannica, Texas Monthly and other publications.

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