A recent study published by Tata Teleservices Limited and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, there is a clear correlation between mobile phone ownership and economic prosperity and literacy. Called The Mobile Multiplier Study, it finds that across India, households with mobile phones enjoy 62% higher levels of economic prosperity over those without one. However, in Maharashtha, mobile phone owning households enjoy 67% higher level of economic prosperity.
The correlation between mobile phone ownership and prosperity is not limited to purely economic measures. According to the research – which aggregated India’s largest census data covering nearly 100,000 responses – states with higher rates of mobile device per household also tend to enjoy significantly higher levels of social wellbeing based on Human Development (HDI) indices, a composite measure of life expectancy, educational attainment, and per capita income, particularly within India’s urban communities.
Literacy, an important indicator of societal development, also shares a relationship with mobile ownership, the study said. Nationally it is observed that mobile ownership touches 80 percent on an average once a household attains secondary education indicating a correlation between mobile ownership and HDI.
