Mobile Communications Reveal the Regional Economy in Côte d’Ivoire

We investigate the relation between mobile phone usage and regional economic development in Côte d’Ivoire. Most previous studies on mobile phone communication focused on developed countries. Their results may be difficult to extend to developing countries. Here we study mobile communication in a developing nation, namely Côte d’Ivoire. Our main motivations are, first, that the effects of information technology as a tool in reducing poverty are not well understood, and, second, that developing countries often do not have the infrastructure to collect and maintain detailed socio-economic data. To tackle these issues we examine the relationships between mobile communication patterns and economic development. We first define several indicators of mobile phone usage and analyze their correlations with available indicators of economic status. We then examine communication patterns between rich and poor areas. We find that mobile communication data provides an accurate and detailed picture of economic development in the country. Rich areas communicate to a great degree with each other and split into distinct smaller communities, whereas poor areas do not exhibit internal structure so much but tend to merge into one large community. Mobile communication data may provide a cost-effective way to analyze the current status of economic development within a nation, thereby allowing governments and aid organizations to respond swiftly and effectively to changing conditions on the ground.