The Global Findex Database: New Data on Saving, Borrowing, and Managing Risk

This note highlights Global Findex data on savings behavior, the sources and purposes of borrowing, and the use of health and agricultural insurance to manage risk. The Global Findex database provides indicators, measuring how people in 148 economies save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. These new indicators are constructed with survey data from interviews with more than 150,000 nationally representative and randomly selected adults.The data shows that 22 percent of adults worldwide have saved at a formal financial institution in the past 12 months, while 9 percent have originated a new formal loan. The data also show deep disparities across regions, economies, and individual characteristics in how people use financial services. Findings include:

• Globally, about 36 percent of adults report having saved in the past 12 months;
• Many people in developing economies save using alternative methods such as savings clubs and rotating savings and credit associations;
• Friends and family are the most commonly reported source of new loans, though not in high-income economies;
• Only 17 percent of adults in developing economies report having personally paid for health insurance.