“Five-hundred and fifteen million individuals opened an account for the first time over the past three years, reducing the unbanked population to 1.7 billion adults worldwide. However, the new data also reveal critical shortcomings in progress. For instance, the financial inclusion gender gap didn’t improve. Globally, women remain 7% less likely to own a bank account than men.” – The Global Findex Database 2017, Measuring Financial Inclusion and the FinTech Revolution
Pick #1. New Global Findex: 69% of Global Population Is Banked
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Half of the 1.7 billion unbanked individuals worldwide live in just seven countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
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In higher-income countries, 94% of adults have a bank account, while in developing countries, this figure is 63%.
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The proportion of individuals globally who send or receive digital payments increased from 42% to 52%; this figure is 76% for those who have a bank account.
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In Sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of individuals with a mobile money account nearly doubled to 21%, while bank account ownership increased by only 4%.
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Globally, roughly two-thirds of those who are unbanked have a mobile phone, but Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where mobile money penetration is greater than 10%.
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In addition to the persistent gender gap, the difference in bank account ownership rates between the rich and the poor has not improved, with those living in the wealthiest 60% of households in the poorest 40% of economies 13 percentage points more likely to have a bank account.
