A Guide to Global Findex 2021: What You Need to Know

The much-anticipated Global Findex database 2021 was released in June 2022, a year later than planned due to COVID-19. Results from surveys of over 125,000 adults in 123 countries provide fresh insights into how much progress we’ve made towards financial inclusion globally. The new data shows that gender gap in account ownership has narrowed and digital payments are more widely used since the pandemic. Globally, over three quarters of adults have an account at a financial institution or with mobile money providers, up from 68 percent in 2017. We invite you to explore additional key findings in this executive summary or download the complete World Bank report containing an in-depth analysis of account ownership, use of financial services, and financial well-being.

As researchers in the global financial inclusion community pore over the data in the next few months, additional analysis will emerge. We have created this FinDev guide to highlight some of the most recent analytical pieces and will continue to update the guide as new publications become available.