Global Findex Database

151 Pages·2017·12.93 MB·English

The Global
Findex Database
2017
Measuring Financial Inclusion
and the Fintech Revolution

The Global
Findex Database
2017
Measuring Financial Inclusion
and the Fintech Revolution
Asli Demirgüç-Kunt
Leora Klapper
Dorothe Singer
Saniya Ansar
Jake Hess
©2018 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank
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Attribution — Please cite the work as follows: Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli, Leora Klapper, Dorothe Singer, Saniya
Ansar, and Jake Hess. 2018. The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fin-
tech Revolution. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1259-0. License: Creative Commons
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ISBN (paper): 978-1-4648-1259-0
ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-1268-2
DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-1259-0
Cover design: Hank Isaac of 495 Digital
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CONTENTS
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiii
About the Global Findex database xv
Overview 1
Why fi nancial inclusion matters for development 1
Continued growth in account ownership 2
Persistent inequality in account ownership 4
Who remains unbanked —a nd reasons why 4
How people make and receive payments 6
How people access and use their accounts 7
Patterns in saving, credit, and fi nancial resilience 8
Increasing fi nancial inclusion through digital technology 10
1 Account ownership 17
Account ownership around the world 18
Gender gaps in account ownership 23
Gaps in account ownership between richer and poorer 26
Differences in account ownership by other individual characteristics 29
2 The unbanked 35
Who the unbanked are 36
Why people remain unbanked 39
3 Payments 43
Payments from government to people 44
Payments from businesses to people — private sector wages 47
Other payments for work 49
Payments from people to businesses — utility payments 50
Payments between people— domestic remittances 50
4 Use of accounts 55
Use of accounts for digital payments 55
Use of accounts for saving 64
Accounts that remain inactive 64
| v
5 Saving, credit, and financial resilience 69
How and why people save 69
How and why people borrow 76
Financial resilience 80
Spotlight: Access to mobile phones and the internet around the world 86
6 Opportunities for expanding financial inclusion through digital
technology 89
The landscape for digital payments 89
Opportunities for expanding account ownership among the unbanked 94
Opportunities for increasing the use of accounts among the banked 102
References 109
Survey methodology 111
Indicator table 123
Global Findex glossary 127
Figures
O.1 The gender gap in account ownership persists in developing economies 4
O.2 More people who have an account are using it for digital payments 7
O.3 Globally, more than half of adults who save choose to do so at a fi nancial institution 9
O.4 Borrowers are more likely to rely on formal credit in high-income economies than in
developing ones 9
O.5 People in high-income economies are more likely to be able to raise emergency
funds—and to do so through savings 10
1.1 Account ownership differs substantially even within income groups 18
1.2 Financial institution accounts have fueled the growth in account ownership since 2011 19
1.3 Account ownership has grown in some developing economies, stagnated in others 20
1.4 Mobile money has boosted account ownership in parts of Sub- Saharan Africa 22
1.5 Mobile money can play an important part in fragile and confl ict-affected economies 22
1.6 Overall in developing economies, women are less likely than men to have an account 23
1.7 The size of the gender gap in account ownership varies across economies 23
1.8 Some developing economies have no appreciable gender gap in account ownership
— and a few have one that goes the other way 24
1.9 Gender gaps in account ownership have persisted over time 24
1.10 Large gender gaps in account ownership are holding back overall progress in
fi nancial inclusion in some economies 25
1.11 In some economies mobile money accounts might be helping to narrow the gender
gap in fi nancial inclusion 26
1.12 Poorer adults are less likely than wealthier ones to have an account 27
1.13 Developing economies tend to have a large gap in account ownership between richer
and poorer adults 27
1.14 The gaps in account ownership between richer and poorer have changed little since
2011 28
1.15 Mobile money accounts might be helping to reduce the gap in fi nancial inclusion
between richer and poorer in some economies 29
1.16 Older adults are more likely than young adults to have an account 30
vi | FINDEX 2017
1.17 The gap in account ownership between older adults and young adults varies widely
among developing economies 30
1.18 Account ownership is higher among adults active in the labor force 31
1.19 Across a range of economies, adults active in the labor force are more likely to have
an account 31
2.1 Nearly half of all unbanked adults live in just seven economies 36
2.2 Worldwide, most unbanked adults are women 37
2.3 Women are overrepresented among the unbanked in most economies 37
2.4 Twice as many unbanked adults live in the poorest households in their economy as in
the richest ones 37
2.5 In economies where a small share of adults remain unbanked, most of the unbanked
are poor 37
2.6 Three in 10 unbanked adults are between the ages of 15 and 24 38
2.7 Most unbanked adults have a primary e ducation or less 38
2.8 Almost half of unbanked adults are out of the labor force 38
2.9 Among the unbanked, women are less likely than men to participate in the labor force 39
2.10 Self-employment is the most common form of work for unbanked adults 39
2.11 Lack of enough money is the most commonly cited barrier to account ownership 40
3.1 Except in low-income economies, most people getting government payments
receive them into an account 44
3.2 In most developing economies governments make payments to people primarily into
accounts 45
3.3 Some European and Central Asian economies have a particularly high share of adults
receiving public sector wages 46
3.4 Government transfers are important in some developing economies—and paid
mostly into accounts 46
3.5 Poorer adults are as likely as richer ones to receive government payments—and to do
so into an account 47
3.6 In most G-7 economies virtually all private sector wage earners are paid into an
account 48
3.7 How private sector wage earners are most likely to receive their pay varies across
developing economies 48
3.8 Women are as likely as men to receive their private sector wages into an account 48
3.9 In most developing economies, though not all, agricultural payments are received
mainly in cash 49
3.10 Those earning money from self- employment in developing economies are paid
mostly in cash 49
3.11 One in four people paying utility bills in developing economies does so directly from
an account 50
3.12 In Sub-Saharan Africa domestic remittances are particularly important—and are sent
and received mainly by using an account 51
4.1 More people are using their account to make or receive digital payments 56
4.2 The share of account owners using digital payments varies widely across developing
economies 56
4.3 In developing economies where most adults already had an account, a growing share
are using theirs for digital payments 57
4.4 In high-income economies four-fi fths of adults use a debit or credit card 58
4.5 Debit card ownership and use have grown in developing economies, though slowly 58
CONTENTS | vii
4.6 Debit card ownership and use vary widely among developing economies 59
4.7 Half of adults in high-income economies use a mobile phone or the internet to make
transactions from their account 60
4.8 Account owners in China tend to make mobile payments through apps, those in
Kenya through mobile money accounts 61
4.9 More than half of adults in high-income economies use a mobile phone or the
internet to check the balance in their fi nancial institution account 61
4.10 On average in high-income economies, two-thirds of adults use the internet to pay
bills or shop online 63
4.11 In developing economies a far smaller share of adults use the internet for paying bills
or shopping online 63
4.12 Online shoppers tend to pay online in China — but in cash on delivery in most other
developing economies 64
4.13 Most people who use their account to save also use it to make or receive digital
payments 64
4.14 Globally, one in fi ve account owners has an account that was inactive in the past year 65
4.15 In India almost half of account owners have an account that remained inactive in the
past year 65
5.1 Globally, more than half of adults who save choose to do so at a fi nancial institution 70
5.2 More account ownership does not necessarily translate into more formal saving 71
5.3 Account owners do not necessarily use their account to save—or even save at all 71
5.4 Almost a third of unbanked adults save 72
5.5 Savings behavior varies widely across developing economies 73
5.6 In developing economies men are more likely than women to save formally 74
5.7 Adults living in the poorest 40 percent of households in their economy are less likely
to save formally 75
5.8 The most common source of credit in high-income economies is formal borrowing—
in developing economies, family or friends 76
5.9 Individual developing economies show much variation in the most common source
of credit 77
5.10 Credit card use dominates formal borrowing in high-income economies 78
5.11 People in high-income economies are more likely to be able to raise emergency
funds—and to do so through savings 81
5.12 People in different developing economies may turn to different sources
for emergency funds 82
5.13 For adults active in the labor force in developing economies, money from working is
the main source of emergency funds 82
5.14 Among agricultural households experiencing a bad harvest or signifi cant loss of
livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa, most bear all the fi nancial risk themselves 83
6.1 Mobile phone ownership among the unbanked varies across economies but tends to
be high 92
6.2 In Sub- Saharan Africa mobile phone ownership offers large opportunities among the
unbanked 93
6.3 The unbanked are relatively unlikely to have both a mobile phone and access to the
internet 93
6.4 Millions of adults opened their fi rst account to receive digital payments 94
6.5 Digitizing government payments to people could reduce the number of unbanked 96
6.6 Most unbanked adults receiving private sector wages in cash have a mobile phone 97
viii | FINDEX 2017