Progress
On track or target met
On track or target met

Desired direction: Increase

Sub-categories

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Download source data for disaggregations (.csv)

Headline data

Proportion of people aged 16-74 who have used a mobile phone in the last three months
Year Value Units
2009 87.6 %
2018 95.8 %
2023 99.0 %
2013 93.3 %
2019 97.0 %
2020 96.9 %
2012 92.4 %
2016 95.8 %
2011 91.7 %
2017 96.1 %
2021 97.2 %
2022 97.6 %
2024 99.2 %
2014 93.6 %
2010 89.5 %
2008 87.8 %
2015 96.0 %

Geographical Area:

Unit of Measurement:

Footnote:

Methodological sheet of the indicator available for the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.

Available indicator

Proportion of people aged 16-74 who have used a mobile phone in the last three months
Target

5.b Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women
Goal

5- Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Definition

Proportion of people aged between 16 and 74 who use a mobile phone
Theoretical formula \[PPMOV_{16-74}^{t} = \frac{PMOV_{16-74}^{t}}{P_{16-74}^{t}} \cdot 100\]

where:

$PMOV_{16-74}^{t} =$ Proportion of people aged between 16 and 74 who have used a mobile phone in the last three months in year $t$

$P_{16-74}^{t} =$ population aged between 16 and 74 in year $t$
Available disaggregations

Sex

Province
Frequency

Annual
Data last updated 2025/05/08
Metadata last updated 2025/06/18

This section provides more information about the United Nations indicator or the European Union Sustainable Development Indicator, such as its rationale, international results, metadata, and other relevant statistics.

Rationale

Mobile phone networks have spread rapidly over the last decade and the number of mobile-cellular subscriptions is quasi equal to the number of people living on earth. However, not every person uses or owns a mobile-cellular telephone. Mobile phone ownership, in particular, is important to track gender equality since the mobile phone is a personal device that, if owned and not just shared, provides women with a degree of independence and autonomy, including for professional purposes. Several studies have highlighted the link between mobile phone ownership and empowerment, and productivity growth.

Existing data on the proportion of women owning a mobile phone suggest that fewer women than men own a mobile phone. This indicator highlights the importance of mobile phone ownership to track and improve gender equality, and monitoring will help design targeted policies to overcome the gender divide.

Source: United Nations Statistics Division
Comparability between the available indicator and the UN indicator

The available indicator complies with United Nations metadata.
International results

Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex (%) IT_MOB_OWN UNSTATS
Link to UN metadata

Metadata 5-b-1.pdf
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