Mobile Technologies Impact on Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Mobile Tech in Africa

In today’s world when discussing developing countries, the most commonly mentioned country is Africa. Africa is known worldwide for its widespread poverty, levels of education, unsanitary living conditions, gang violence and high mortality, and birth rates. Many companies and organizations are now turning to mobile technology to help combat these issues facing those living in Africa. With the increase in advancements in technology, many organizations and companies are researching and looking into how some technologies could be adapted to help reach areas which are usually not easily accessible. A simple yet effective method at developing communication with these areas is through mobile devices. In recent years the ownership of mobile phones in Africa have increased rapidly, with the percentage of adults who own a phone rising from 64% in 2002 to now match the US with 89% in 2014 (Global, 2015). An infographic depicting this information can be seen in Figure 1. As shown in reports conducted by Pew Global (2015), the most popular activity for mobile phone users in Africa is sending text messages. The report shows that 80% adult cell phone owners use their phone mostly to send text messages as seen in Figure 2. SMS is arguably the most popular activity in this area due to the fact that many in this area only have ownership of a cell phone rather than smartphone, with a study conducted on Nigerian residents showing that although 89% of the population there owned a mobile phone only 27% owned a smartphone (Pew Global, 2015).

Figure 1.

Percentage of what adults use their mobile devices for in sub-Saharan Africa

As stated by Pew Global (2015).

Figure 2.

Infographic depicting the number of adults who own a mobile device globally

As stated by Pew Global (2015).