Married men have the highest rate of mobile phone ownership among all other males in the country, but divorced and separated women own phones more than their married counterparts, a new information and communication technology (ICT) report shows.
The report, which provides data on ICT usage in the country, shows that while phone ownership among Kenyans has increased overtime, trends vary based on different aspects, including ownership by age, marital status, wealth quantile and even education level.
The analytical report on ICT was published by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and is based on data from the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, which interviewed more than 45,000 Kenyans.
The report established that by 2022, 80.4 percent of male and 77.5 percent of females nationally owned phones, with nine out of 10 urban dwellers, and seven out 10 rural dwellers owning the gadgets.
“The proportions of male population aged 15-49 currently living with partners and those currently married recorded the highest mobile phone ownership at 95 percent and 94.9 percent, respectively,” the report notes.
Widowed Kenyan males ranked third on phone ownership at 87.2 percent, followed by separated men (76 percent) and divorced males (74.2 percent).
Among women, however, the report shows that, unlike their male counterparts, mobile phone ownership is high among those not in family unions.
“On the other hand, mobile phone ownership was highest among the female population who reported being separated (91.3 percent) and divorced (91.1 percent),” the report states.
They are followed by widowed women at 88 percent, while married women rank fourth at 86.5 percent.
Smartphone ownership
Women living with partners, however, have the highest rate of smartphone ownership (47.3 percent) among other females, followed by separated (46.2 percent) and divorced (45.8 percent) women.
“Smartphone ownership was highest among both male and female population living with partners at 56.6 percent and 47.3 percent, respectively,” the ICT report notes.
Among males, married men have the second highest smartphone ownership at 54.2 percent, followed by those who have never been in a union (46 percent).
In terms of use of other ICT services, the report notes that radio listening was highest among widowed men at 98.5 percent, while the highest proportion of women who listened to radio were currently living with their partners (79.3 percent).
“The results also showed that there was higher use of the internet by married men (58.9 percent) or men living with partners (62.8 percent) compared to their female counterparts. Among divorced women (42.4 percent) or separated women (47.9 percent) there was a higher use of the internet compared to their male counterparts at 37.8 and 45.5 percent, respectively,” it stated.
