What Country Has the Most Telephones?

Surprise, surprise, it's us...the U.S. that is. Just under 156 million phones. Second place you say? Japan checks in with a mere 60 million telephones. That works out to be about 60 phones for every 100 Americans, except for in Los Angeles, where there's probably 100 phones for every 60 people. Wouldn't you say? 12. Sorry to put you on hold. Someone will be right with you. When was the first telephone installed in the White House? Give up? In the late 1880's by then President Grover Cleveland. History tells us when the White House phone rang, President Cleveland answered it himself. Talk about access to the President. Hmmmm, I wonder (dial tone, beep, beep)... NAH! 11. Buying a pair of shoes soon? When you go, ask the salesperson if the store's Brannock device has been calibrated lately. The Brannock device is the name of the instrument shoe stores use to measure feet. Won't the sales clerk be impressed. Another informative and enlightening moment on hold compliments of your credit ...  more

Of the almost 400 million telephones on earth today, the United States, with almost 40 percent of them, is the country with the most phones. There are now about 155 million phones in this country, or two out of every five phones in the world. Each year, more than 200 billion telephone calls are made in America, or about 1,300 for each phone! But the United States is not the nation with the most phones in proportion to its population. There are about 700 phones in this country for every 1,000 persons. But we are topped by the tiny nation of Monaco in Europe, which has 825 phones for every 1,000 persons! At the other end of the scale, the small country of Bhutan, in the Himalaya Mountains in Asia, has just one phone for every 2,000 persons! In 1900, 25 years after the telephone was invented, there were still less than two million telephones in the entire world!  more