The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and Opportunities to Expand Access to and Use of Financial Services*

Abstract

Financial services can help drive development. They help people escape poverty by facilitating investments in their health, education, and businesses. And they make it easier to manage financial emergencies—such as a job loss or crop failure—that can push families into destitution. A growing body of research reveals many potential development benefits from financial inclusion—especially from the use of digital financial services, including mobile money services, payment cards, and other financial technology (or fintech) applications. Although the evidence is somewhat mixed, even studies that do not find positive results often point to possibilities for achieving better outcomes through careful attention to local needs.1 Many poor people around the world lack the financial services that can serve these functions, such as bank accounts and digital payments. Instead, they rely on cash—which can be unsafe and hard to manage. That's why the World Bank has made it a key priority to promote financial inclusion—access to and use of formal financial services. Measurement is key to understanding financial inclusion and identifying opportunities to expand it. In 2011 the World Bank launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive database on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risks. Compiled using nationally representative surveys in of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, the 2017 Global Findex database includes updated indicators on access to, and use of, formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology, including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The 2017 Global Findex is the third survey round, following the initial one and a second one in 2014.2 The Global Findex database shows that 1.2 billion adults worldwide opened an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider between 2011 and 2017, including 515 million adults since 2014. This means that 69 percent of adults now have an account, up from 62 percent in 2014 and from 51 percent in 2011. In high-income economies, 94 percent of adults have an account; in developing economies 63 percent do. There is also wide variation in account ownership among individual economies (map 1). Account Ownership Varies Widely Around the World[Adults with an account (%), 2017] Source: Global Findex database. The vast majority of account owners have an account at a bank, a microfinance institution, or another type of regulated financial institution. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where the share of adults with a mobile money account exceeds 10 percent. This was also true in 2014. At that time East Africa was the region's mobile money hub. But mobile money accounts have since spread to new parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (map 2). The share of adults with a mobile money account has now surpassed 30 percent in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal—and 40 percent in Gabon. Mobile Money Accounts have Spread More Widely in Sub-Saharan Africa Since 2014[Adults with a mobile money account (%)] Source: Global Findex database.Note: Data are displayed only for economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mobile money accounts have also taken root in economies outside Sub-Saharan Africa. In some, the share of adults with a mobile money account has reached about 20 percent or more—including Bangladesh, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mongolia, and Paraguay. Even as account ownership continues to grow, inequalities persist. While 72 percent of men have an account, only 65 percent of women do. That gender gap of 7 percentage points was also present in 2014 and 2011. In developing economies the gender gap remains unchanged at 9 percentage points. Nor has the gap between richer and poorer narrowed. Among adults in the richest 60 percent of households within economies, 74 percent have an account. But among those in the poorest 40 percent, only 61 percent do, leaving a global gap of 13 percentage points. The difference is similar in developing economies, and neither gap has changed meaningfully since 2014. Account ownership is also lower among young adults, the less educated, and those who are out of the labor force. Since being launched in 2011, the Global Findex database has provided insights into ways to increase financial inclusion. The 2017 edition, for the first time, features data on mobile phone ownership and access to the Internet, revealing unprecedented opportunities to reduce the number of adults without an account and to help those who have one to use it more often. Of course, digital technology alone is not enough to increase financial inclusion. Ensuring that people benefit from digital financial services requires a well-developed payments system, good physical infrastructure, appropriate regulations, and vigorous consumer protection safeguards. And whether digital or analogue, financial services need to be tailored to the needs of di