Sub-Saharan Africa has shown significant growth in financial inclusion over the past decade, driven by mobile money account adoption as well as by efforts by governments and financial institutions to promote bank account opening.
Here, the Global Findex team shares a series of notes exploring the data on financial inclusion and usage in Sub-Saharan Africa, and how having an account affects wellbeing and resilience for African adults. Explore the notes here on our site or download the pdf versions:
Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa—An Overview
This regional note provides an overview of the state of financial account ownership and use in the region, including an exploration of gender and income gaps, barriers to account ownership, and patterns in financial usage.
The Impact of Mobile Money in Sub-Saharan Africa
As of 2022, 28 percent of adults on average across Sub-Saharan Africa had a mobile money account, a remarkable number given the developing economy average of 13 percent mobile money account ownership. This note explores the impact of mobile money on financial inclusion across the continent and its effect on gender inclusion, digital payments adoption, formal savings, and credit.
Financial Wellbeing in Sub-Saharan Africa
In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 41 percent of adults are financially resilient. An even smaller 35 percent share of women are financially resilient compared with the 46 percent of men who are. This note focuses on financial wellbeing, with perspectives on financial resilience—including in the context of climate disasters—financial stress, and building financial capability for underserved groups.
Trends in Access to ID in Sub-Saharan Africa
This regional policy note focused on Sub-Saharan Africa shares data collected in partnership between the World Bank’s Global Findex and Identification for Development (ID4D) initiatives. The note reveals fresh insights about the relationship between having a government-issued identification document and accessing basic services such as government support, financial services, or healthcare.
Digitalizing Agriculture Payments in Sub-Saharan Africa
The opportunity to receive a digital payment is correlated with first-time financial account ownership, as well as with deeper use of financial services such as digital payments, storing money, and saving in an account. This note examines the opportunity to achieve these financial inclusion benefits for the 140 million agricultural producers on the continent—66 million of them women—who are paid only in cash.