Healthy Screens

Problematic smartphone use across the world

Problematic smartphone use ranged from 18 in Germany to 36 in China, based on studies published between 2014 and 2020 (Olson et al., 2022). The participants were aged 15 to 35 and the scores can range from 10 to 60.

Map of smartphone addiction across the world

Breakdown by country

Scores show the average of studies published during the most recent available year. For a list of all 83 samples assessed, see the appendix of our manuscript or download the spreadsheet. We are currently collecting data from across the world to supplement these results (N = 49,000 participants from 195 countries and subdivisions.

CountryScoreParticipantsYear
China36.1821312020
Saudi Arabia35.73782017
Malaysia35.434002019
Brazil323872020
South Korea31.621192019
Iran31.521002020
Canada31.114752020
Turkey30.9224872020
Egypt29.542002020
Nepal29.412502020
Italy28.826332017
Australia28.612702019
Israel28.292002020
Serbia28.16772020
Japan27.7110602019
United Kingdom27.692382019
India27.21782020
United States26.6810472020
Romania25.527172018
Nigeria24.735002019
Belgium24.2418892020
Switzerland23.4515192015
France20.294322018
Germany18.446122019

Change over time

Problematic smartphone use increased across the world between 2014 and 2020 (Olson et al., 2022).

Problematic smartphone use by year