Mobile’s impact on the SDGs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Moreover, during the same period, the number of mobile internet subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa more than doubled, rising from 120 million to 270 million people. This highlights how mobile represents a growing platform to accelerate Sub-Saharan Africa’s progress on the SDGs and to drive socioeconomic advancement in areas such as healthcare, education, digital commerce, industrial automation and smart city infrastructure. This is evidenced by the continued uptake of mobile money, which reached 763 million registered accounts in the region in 2022 (a year-on-year increase of 17%).

Despite strong progress in a number of areas, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the largest usage gap and coverage gap, impeding progress across a range of SDGs. Additionally, Sub-Saharan Africa has the second-largest gender gap, with the difference between male and female mobile ownership remaining relatively unchanged since 2017. This limits the region’s progress on SDG 5: Gender Equality and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.