ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Pakistan saw a significant rise in mobile internet usage among its women in 2024 to surpass neighbouring countries in women’s mobile internet adoption.
Around 8 million Pakistani women came online last year to narrow the digital gender divide further.
With the large number of women coming online, the gender gap in mobile internet adoption narrowed from 38 per cent to 25pc, according to the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2025.
This means that women in Pakistan are now only 25pc less likely than men to use mobile internet — an improvement from previous years.
Usage of mobile internet
In contrast, the gender gap across South Asia remained largely unchanged at 32pc, with an estimated 330 million women in the region still not using mobile internet.
Pakistan also surpassed neighbouring countries in women’s mobile internet adoption, with 45pc of women using mobile internet, compared to 39pc in India and 26pc in Bangladesh.
This marks a noteworthy increase from 33pc in 2023 — a 12-percentage point rise — primarily driven by adoption among rural women, the report noted.
The report remarked that Pakistan leads South Asian region in mobile ownership among men, with 93pc of men owning a mobile phone, compared to 71pc in India and 68pc in Bangladesh.
The GSMA report added that awareness of mobile internet was extremely high among both men and women in Pakistan, with little gender difference of 89pc and 86pc, respectively.
