Giving Compass' Take:

• Research from the Pew Research Center reveals that cost is the number one reason that one-in-five people in surveyed developing countries do not own a mobile phone. 

• How can funders work to increase access to mobile phones? 

• Learn how mobile access can be life-enhancing. 

Mobile phones are common across many emerging economies. Yet, mobile phone ownership is not equally embraced either among nations or within them. Across the 11 emerging economies surveyed as part of this report, up to one-in-five people do not own or even share a mobile phone.

While myriad factors affect why people don’t own or use mobile phones, a few key ones stand out. First, non-mobile phone users tend to be put off by the cost of owning mobile phones – and, particularly, the cost of the device itself, more so than the cost of data. Second, many non-users see limited value to mobile phones for their lives. Linguistic difficulties and technological literacy also affect non-users, though at somewhat lower rates. Non-users are also concerned about the security of mobile phones and the sensitive information they contain.

And, while majorities of non-users would like to own a phone in some countries surveyed, non-users elsewhere are content to continue without digital connectivity.

Across the 11 countries, a median of 6% say they neither own their own mobile phone nor regularly use someone else’s device. Nonuse varies across these countries – ranging from a low of just 2% in Vietnam to a high of 20% in the Philippines.

Nonuse tends to be more common among adults with lower levels of income and education.1 In the Philippines, for instance, 10% of people with more education say they do not use a phone, compared with 38% of those with lower levels of education. This pattern exists in all 11 countries surveyed. Similarly, across most nations surveyed, older people are more likely than younger to be non-users.

However, gender differences in nonuse vary markedly by country. For example, in India, 24% of women are non-users, compared with 11% of men. In most other countries, there are smaller or no significant differences in nonuse by gender.

In each country, mobile phone non-users were asked whether each of 12 factors was part of the reason they do not use a mobile device. These factors ranged from issues related to cost – whether of data or the device itself – to issues of digital literacy or linguistic difficulty, among others. If non-users mentioned that more than one of the 12 factors played into their decision not to use a phone, they were also asked which of those they had named was the top factor hampering their use.

Results indicate that, while myriad factors have an impact on people’s decisions not to use phones, financial constraints are key. Across the eight countries with a sufficient sample size to analyze, a median of 51% say the cost of a mobile device is a reason they do not own a mobile phone. Among those who gave multiple reasons that they did not use a phone, device cost also is the top reason people cite for not owning a mobile device (a median of 17% of non-users across eight countries). A median of 34% also say data costs are a factor in why they do not use a mobile phone, though a median of only 5% say this is their top reason.

Read the full article about barriers to mobile phone use by Laura Silver, Emily A. Vogels, Mara Mordecai, Jeremiah Cha, Raea Rasmussen, and Lee Rainie at Pew Research Center.