Evaluating socio-economic state of a country analyzing airtime credit and mobile phone datasets

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how mobile phone data, including airtime credit and communication patterns, can be used to estimate socio-economic indicators in a resource-limited African country, providing a cost-effective alternative to traditional surveys.

Contribution

It introduces a methodology to infer socio-economic status from mobile phone datasets, enabling detailed analysis in countries with scarce statistical resources.

Findings

Estimated relative income levels from airtime credit data

Assessed income diversity and inequality using mobile communication patterns

Identified socio-economic segregation at regional levels

Abstract

Reliable statistical information is important to make political decisions on a sound basis and to help measure the impact of policies. Unfortunately, statistics offices in developing countries have scarce resources and statistical censuses are therefore conducted sporadically. Based on mobile phone communications and history of airtime credit purchases, we estimate the relative income of individuals, the diversity and inequality of income, and an indicator for socioeconomic segregation for fine-grained regions of an African country. Our study shows how to use mobile phone datasets as a starting point to understand the socio-economic state of a country, which can be especially useful in countries with few resources to conduct large surveys.