Leveraging mobile phones to attain sustainable development

Valentina Rotondi (), Ridhi Kashyap, Luca Maria Pesando, Simone Spinelli and Francesco Billari
Additional contact information
Valentina Rotondi: Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1JD, United Kingdom; Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Bocconi University, 20136 Milano, Italy; Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1NF, United Kingdom; Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1JD, United Kingdom
Ridhi Kashyap: Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1JD, United Kingdom; Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1NF, United Kingdom; Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1JD, United Kingdom
Luca Maria Pesando: Department of Sociology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2T7, Canada; Centre on Population Dynamics, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0E6, Canada
Simone Spinelli: Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Bocconi University, 20136 Milano, Italy

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020, vol. 117, issue 24, 13413-13420

Abstract: For billions of people across the globe, mobile phones enable relatively cheap and effective communication, as well as access to information and vital services on health, education, society, and the economy. Drawing on context-specific evidence on the effects of the digital revolution, this study provides empirical support for the idea that mobile phones are a vehicle for sustainable development at the global scale. It does so by assembling a wealth of publicly available macro- and individual-level data, exploring a wide range of demographic and social development outcomes, and leveraging a combination of methodological approaches. Macro-level analyses covering 200+ countries reveal that mobile-phone access is associated with lower gender inequality, higher contraceptive uptake, and lower maternal and child mortality. Individual-level analyses of survey data from sub-Saharan Africa, linked with detailed geospatial information, further show that women who own a mobile phone are better informed about sexual and reproductive health services and empowered to make independent decisions. Payoffs are larger among the least-developed countries and among the most disadvantaged micro-level clusters. Overall, our findings suggest that boosting mobile-phone access and coverage and closing digital divides, particularly among women, can be powerful tools to attain empowerment-related sustainable development goals, in an ultimate effort to enhance population health and well-being and reduce poverty.

Keywords: mobile phones; SDGs; gender equality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.pnas.org/content/117/24/13413.full (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nas:journl:v:117:y:2020:p:13413-13420

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by PNAS Product Team ().