State-Level Equalisation of Women’s Internet Use in India Between the Fifth and Sixth National Family Health Surveys: A Convergence Analysis

Digital health services, health information, and digitally administered health-financing schemes increasingly presuppose that users can get online. In India, women lag behind men in internet use. We tested whether women’s internet use converged across states between the fifth (2019–21) and sixth (2023–24) rounds of the National Family Health Survey. The ecological analysis covered all 35 states and union territories surveyed in both. Mean internet use rose from 43.3% to 69.5% (population-weighted: 33.3% to 64.4%), and the cross-state standard deviation fell from 16.6 to 11.3. Beta-convergence was strong (β = −0.427, p < 0.0001) and survived transformation, adjustment, and sensitivity exclusions. The concentration index across states ranked by multidimensional poverty fell from 0.118 to 0.013. Poverty did not predict gains once the baseline level was held constant. The gender gap in internet use narrowed on average and converged. Two inequalities in a digital determinant of health therefore narrowed: between poorer and less-poor states, and between women and men. This removes one structural barrier to equitable digital health and primary care. It does not show that health inequalities narrowed. Testing that, and whether the gains reach the poorest women within states, requires individual-level data.