Access to Banking Services

• Author: Asli Demirguc-Kunt and Leora Klapper
• Position: Prepared by and of the Financial and Private Sector Development Network of the World Bank. The data are from the Global Findex database, which derived from more than 150,000 interviews in 148 economies and available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex

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Fifty percent of adults worldwide do not have an account in a formal financial institution—a bank, credit union, cooperative, post office, or microfinance institution. These 2.5 billion “unbanked” adults lack a safe place to save and are likely to have only limited access to credit. And without an account in a financial institution, it is more difficult for people to receive wages, remittances, and government payments.

Until now, however, indicators on the banking practices of the poor, women, and young people were lacking for most economies. To address this gap, the World Bank and Gallup carried out a survey in 148 economies during 2011 to find out how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk both inside and outside the formal financial sector.

Huge differences

As expected, the data reveal sharp disparities across regions, countries, and individual characteristics (such as gender, education, and age). According to the World Bank’s Global Findex database, 89 percent of adults in advanced economies have a bank account, compared with 41 percent of adults in developing countries. Among the poorest, 23 percent of adults living on less than $2 a day have accounts. Worldwide, 55 percent of men have a bank account, compared with 47 percent of women.

The most common reasons for not having a bank account are not having enough money to use one (cited by 65 percent), banks or accounts that are too expensive or too far away (cited by 25 and 20 percent, respectively), and not having the necessary documentation (18 percent). These reasons suggest that removing physical, bureaucratic, and financial barriers could expand the use of bank accounts and the financial advantages that accompany...