The past two decades have seen rapid developments and advancement in mobile technology, and the number of mobile phone users has grown exponentially all over the world [1,2]. In the early 2000s, the increase in ownerships, subscriptions, and use of mobile phones was slow in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared to high-income countries (HICs), however, in recent years, the mobile subscription rate in many LMICs has become similar to the rate in HICs [1]. According to the International Telecommunication Union, the global mobile subscription rate was 106 per 100 people in 2020. This rate was 103 and 120 per 100 people in LMICs and HICs, respectively [1]. The use of mobile phone in LMICs also provides an opportunity to boost economic, health, educational, and technological development [3–6]. Bangladesh is also an LMIC where mobile phone subscriptions and ownership have increased rapidly in past few decades. The mobile subscription rate was 0.22 per 100 people in 2000; this rate increased to 6, 46, 84, and 107 per 100 people in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, respectively. Similarly, Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2014 found the ownership of mobile phones as 52% among men and 18% among women; BDHS 2017–18 found the proportions as 74% among men and 47% among women [7,8]. Evidence from Bangladesh also suggests that mobile phone use has contributed to socioeconomic development of the country, including health care receipt of women [9–11]. For instance, Tang et al. analyzed BDHS 2014 data and found that mobile phone use for pregnancy-related causes increases the likelihood of utilizing antenatal care and hospital delivery [12]. As Bangladesh and many other LMICs are currently dealing with high maternal and neonatal mortality along with low maternal health service utilization, having a mobile phone can positively influence the maternal and child health in these countries [10,12]. Further, mobile phone is the primary means to use internet in Bangladesh and other similar LMICs. It is the principal means to reach the underserved population in hard-to-reach areas [6,13].

Although all data show that the ownership and subscription of mobile phones have increased in the country, these remain lower among women compared to men [14,15]. Furthermore, some previous reports suggest that ownership and use are disproportionately lower among women with low socioeconomic status (i.e., women with low education level or wealth) [12,16,17], however, there has been a lack of recent investigation about this in Bangladesh. It is important to increase the ownership of mobile phones among women for not only socioeconomic development but also for empowering women and improving maternal and child health conditions [9–11]. Understanding the trend of mobile phone ownership over a period could help designing interventions to target increasing it among women who consistently have lower ownership. This study attempted to address these gaps in the literature and examined prevalence, trends, and factors associated with mobile phone ownership among women of reproductive age in Bangladesh. Findings of this study would be helpful to increase mobile phone ownership and socioeconomic development among women in Bangladesh and other similar LMICs.

A total of 17854 and 20082 women were included from BDHS 2014 and BDHS 2017–18, respectively (Table 1). The mean age of the participants was 30.9 (SE: 0.09) and 31.4 (SE: 0.08) years in 2014 and 2017–18, respectively. Overall, BDHS 2017–18 participants were more likely to be older (35-49-year-olds: 37.2% vs 34.6%), employed (47.8% vs 33.1%), formally educated (83.6% vs 75.0%), and have educated husbands (74.0% vs 68.0%) than BDHS 2014 participants. The overall ownership was 48.1% (95% CI: 46.4%-49.9%) and 60.1% (95% CI: 58.8%-61.4%) in 2014 and 2017–18, respectively. From 2014 to 2017–18, the prevalence of mobile phone ownership increased according to most sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, especially among women with lower ownership in 2014. For instance, among women without any formal education, the prevalence was 25.7% (95% CI: 23.8%-27.6%) in 2014, which increased to 37.5% (95% CI: 35.5%-39.6%) in 2017–18.

Table 2 compares the characteristics of sample according to mobile phone ownership in 2014 and 2017–18. In both periods, mobile phone owners were younger (i.e., less than 35 years of age), had one child, did not work, had higher levels of education, had husbands with higher levels of education, had a higher household wealth status, and lived in urban areas. For example, in 2014 and 2017–18, among mobile phone owners, the proportions of college/above-educated women were 15.3% and 18.2%, respectively, while among those without ownership, these proportions were 2.2% and 4.1%, respectively.

The factors that were associated with mobile phone ownership were similar in both surveys (Table 3). Overall, socioeconomic status (i.e., education level and wealth status) had dose-response relationships with mobile phone ownership in both periods. For instance, in 2014, compared to women with no formal education, women with primary, secondary, and college/above, respectively, had the AOR of 1.8 (95% CI: 1.7–2.0), 3.2 (95% CI: 2.9–3.6), and 9.0 (95% CI: 7.4–11.0), and in 2017–18 these AORs were 1.7 (95% CI: 1.5–1.9), 2.5 (95% CI: 2.2–2.8), and 5.9 (95% CI: 5.0–7.0). Women with 25–34 years of age had the highest odds in both years: 1.7 (95% CI: 1.5–1.8) in 2014 and 1.7 (95% CI: 1.5–1.9) in 2017–18. Women with secondary- and college-educated husbands were more likely to own mobile phones too. Compared to Muslims, non-Muslims had lower adjusted odds, 0.7 (95% CI: 0.6–0.8) and 0.8 (95% CI: 0.7–0.9) in 2014 and 2017–18, respectively. Division of residence also had an association with the outcome variable.

This study investigated the prevalence, trends, and factors associated with mobile phone ownership among women of reproductive age in Bangladesh. We found that women with higher socioeconomic status were more likely to own mobile phones in the country. We also observed that ownership increased across most sociodemographic and socioeconomic groups between 2014 and 2017–18. This study adds to the growing body of literature investigating the disparities in mobile phone ownership or the digital divide of mobile phone ownership in LMICs such as Bangladesh.

One welcome finding of the present study is the increase in mobile phone ownership observed between 2014 and 2017–18, which was in line with the country’s socioeconomic development (e.g., education level and wealth status). We also noted a higher proportion of women with higher education levels or higher educated husbands in BDHS 2017–18 compared to BDHS 2014, which has been a consistent trend since BDHS 1993–94 [7,8,19]. Although BDHS did not collect personal income information, these two variables are known to be significantly associated with income. The average income of Bangladeshi people has steadily increased during this period [7,8,19].

We also noticed that the socioeconomic differences in mobile phone ownership have reduced in BDHS 2017–18 compared to BDHS 2014. In other words, the socioeconomic differences in adjusted odds of owning a mobile phone were lower in 2017–18 compared to 2014 [7,8]. It indicates that the impacts of characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status) that differentiate mobile phone owners from non-owners have also declined [17]. In the early period, high mobile phone costs, the lack of willingness to bear the cost, and slow adoption of this new technology resulted in a gap in ownership, but over time, the impact has reduced [17,20]. The increase in ownership did not change substantially among women with a college education or women with college-educated husbands, indicating that the ownership has reached a plateau stage among these population groups. Sociocultural norms in Bangladesh may also prevent some women from owning mobile phones. In the patriarchal system where men are the primary controllers of finances and all family decisions, women may not require or have permission to own mobile phones [17,21–23].

Many studies are conducted in Bangladesh and other similar LMICs using mobile phone surveys, those surveys cannot be generalizable without increasing ownership among all socioeconomic groups [24–27]. The socioeconomic disparities in mobile phone ownership among Bangladeshi women indicate that future studies should explore implementing programs and policies to reduce this digital divide. The government of Bangladesh currently works in partnership with multiple local and national non-governmental organizations to empower women [7,8]. They can also work with them to make mobile phone ownership easier, especially providing low-cost mobile phone and internet. They can also work with mobile phone companies to increase access or ownership. Considering the advantages of mobile phone ownership or use, minimizing the gap will also help minimize socioeconomic disparities in health or economic outcomes [9–11].

Overall, more than one-third of the women did not own any mobile phone. We did not ask them if any other family member (e.g., husband or children) owned a mobile phone. However, it is also important to ensure mHealth or other coverage for this group of women to take full advantage of mobile phone technology [9–11]. Future studies should also investigate ways to reach them.

This study has several notable strengths. We reported the prevalence, trends, and factors using two datasets from Bangladesh, covering rural and urban regions of all administrative divisions has made the study nationally representative and generalizable to reproductive-aged women of the country. The surveys had large sample sizes that enabled us to perform subgroup analyses, and the response rates were high. The survey used standardized validated questionnaires that increased the authenticity of our findings.

The limitations of the present study also merit discussion. We did not consider some variables (e.g., network coverage in the area) that may impact the ownership. We did not account for whether a woman did not want to use a phone or if her family did not allow her to own it. This was a cross-sectional study, which limits our understanding of causal associations due to the lack of the evidence about the temporal relationship between explanatory variables and outcomes.

The present study found that the ownership of mobile phones has increased significantly among women of reproductive age in Bangladesh and the socioeconomic differences in ownership have declined. However, some women groups had consistently lower ownership, to increase its overall level and increase the advantage of mobile phone technology, it is important to increase the coverage among them, especially among women with lower education levels, lower educated husbands, and wealth status.