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Globally, progress has stalled in closing the gender gap in mobile Internet adoption across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with the gap remaining relatively unchanged in 2024.

However, in sub-Saharan Africa there was a tiny bit of improvement, where the gender gap narrowed for the second year in a row.

That is according to the latest stats from the Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025, published by the GSMA today.

Sub-Saharan Africa's gender gap narrowed from 35% in 2017 to 32% in 2023 and down to 29% in 2024.

Five million more women have started using the mobile Internet in the region since 2017, but 205 million are still not connected – equivalent to 61% of the adult female population.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the gender gap in mobile ownership dropped from 14% in 2023 to 13% in 2024.

The survey was conducted across 15 LMICs including Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Egypt in North Africa.

The gender gap in smartphone ownership in sub-Saharan Africa also fell from 28% in 2023 to 25% in 2024.

However, in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Rwanda, around 20% of female smartphone owners and around 10% of male smartphone owners said they were not using mobile Internet, despite almost all of them being aware of it.

Related:Q&A: GSMA's Claire Sibthorpe on closing the mobile gender gap

The eighth edition of The Mobile Gender Gap Report showed that women across all the LMICs surveyed were 14% less likely than men to use mobile Internet, and the underlying rate in women's mobile Internet adoption had slowed year-on-year.

This leaves approximately 235 million fewer women than men using mobile Internet in these countries.

In fact, there are 885 million women still not using mobile Internet across LMICs, approximately 60% of whom reside in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

"It's disheartening that progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap has stalled. The data highlights the urgent need for increased focus and investment by all stakeholders working together to close the digital gender divide," Claire Sibthorpe, head of digital inclusion at the GSMA, said about the report's findings.

"The mobile internet gender gap is not going to close on its own. It is driven by deep-rooted social, economic, and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women," she added.  

The affordability of Internet-enabled handsets remains one of the top barriers to mobile Internet adoption, with the cost of an entry-level handset representing 24% of a woman's monthly income in LMICs, compared with 12% of a man's. Literacy and digital skills is the other top reported barrier to mobile Internet adoption among those who are aware of mobile Internet. 

Related:Mobile gender gap narrows slightly in sub-Saharan Africa: GSMA

The GSMA estimates that, over the period of 2023 to 2030, closing the gender gap in mobile Internet adoption in LMICs would add $1.3 trillion in GDP, as well as deliver $230 billion in additional revenue to the mobile industry.

The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025 was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) via the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation, with research funded in part by the Gates Foundation.