Number of poor people using mobile internet has doubled since 2015

The number of poor people worldwide using mobile internet has doubled from 560 million to 1.2 billion since 2015. This is reported by the umbrella organization of providers. According to the organization, there are still 3.2 billion people without mobile internet.

These are the 40 percent poorest per country, with the number of those with mobile internet doubling since 2015, says a report from GSMA on the progress of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For many of those involved, mobile internet is the only available form of internet.

The 3.2 billion people who do not use mobile internet often do not because they cannot afford it or do not have the knowledge and skills to do so. Also, there are many who feel it is irrelevant to them. About 400 million people live where there is no mobile coverage, much less than the 1.4 billion of seven years ago.

In addition, GSMA notes that 3.5 billion people use their telephone for video calling, 2.5 billion seek educational information and 2.1 billion use the telephone to monitor or improve their health. The use of telephones in poor countries is on average 17 percentage points lower than in rich countries.