Digital divide: 51% rural women don't own a mobile phone, shows NSO data

NSO survey shows stark gender divide in mobile ownership with 51.6% of rural women aged 15+ lacking personal mobile phones despite near universal youth usage

Nearly half of the women living in rural areas do not own a mobile phone, according to the latest Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 (CMS -T) released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Thursday. 

 

Data showed that 51.6 per cent of women belonging to the ‘15 years and above age group’ in rural areas don’t own a mobile phone, while 80.7 per cent of men own one.  

 

Meanwhile, in urban areas, 71.8 per cent of women owned mobile phones, while 90 per cent of men owned a mobile device. 

 

The NSO survey defines mobile phone ownership as having a device with an active SIM card for personal use, including employer-provided phones and those not registered in the user’s name. 

 

 

While determining ownership, joint ownership of a single mobile phone is not considered, so ownership is determined based on the majority use. 

The survey did not consider individuals with only SIM cards as owning a mobile phone. 

 

Data also revealed that in rural areas, around 79.2 per cent of men and 75.6 per cent of women aged 15 years and above who owned a mobile phone had a smartphone. In urban areas, the figures were estimated at 89.4 per cent for men and 86.2 per cent for women in the same age group. 

 

The gender divide in mobile phone ownership was also evident among the younger population. While 74.8 per cent of rural males aged 15–24 owned a mobile phone, the corresponding figure for females was just 51.7 per cent.

 

However, the divide was less pronounced in terms of the use of mobile phones. As many as 76.3 per cent of rural women and 86.8 per cent of urban women reported using a mobile phone (smartphone or otherwise) for making personal calls and/or accessing the internet at least once during the three months preceding the date of the survey.

 

The corresponding figure for men stood at 89.5 per cent in rural areas and 95 per cent in urban areas.

 

The survey also highlighted near-universal mobile phone usage among the youth (15–24 age group). As many as 98 per cent of rural males and 97.6 per cent of urban males reported using a mobile phone during the last three months preceding the date of the survey. Among young females, 95.7 per cent in rural areas and 96.9 per cent in urban areas reported mobile phone use.

 

As part of NSO’s strategy of implementing short-duration, focused surveys, CMS-T was conducted at the behest of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) between January and March 2025, to generate national-level estimates in support of global reporting requirements.

 

The survey collected data on various aspects of mobile and internet usage at both the household and individual levels. Additionally, it captured information on selected information, communication, and technology (ICT) skills. The sample comprised 2,395 villages and 1,987 urban blocks, covering 34,950 households and 142,065 persons.