Research & Analysis
Reading Deck
Global Landscape: Data Trails of Digitally Included Poor (DIP) People
Highlights
- Digitally included poor (DIP) people that are defined as adults (>15) in low- and middle-income countries, earning under $5.5/day (PPP adjusted), with ownership or access to a phone are a growing segment.
- Data trails vary considerably across countries — thus, context matters.
- Gender differences exist in digital access and, as a result, in the generation of data trails. In cases where women have a level of digital access similar to that of men there are some important similarities in the data trails being generated by men and women.
- Telecom data (data on airtime top-ups, P2P transactions) is the most widely available digital data trail of DIP people but there are other important sources of data being generated.
- While smartphone users generate a very small data footprint in low- and middle-income markets, there are some patterns in the types of data trails they generate. These data trails are expected to grow as smartphone adoption increases.
- DIP people are currently being underserved by financial institutions, and this could be addressed by leveraging their digital data.
Related Resources
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Sub-topics: Women
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