The Gender Gap in Financial Literacy: A Global Perspective

Financial illiteracy is widespread, and individuals lack knowledge of even the most basic economic principles. One striking feature of the empirical data on financial literacy is the large and persistent gender difference. 

While existing literature shows strong evidence on the gender gap, the samples are often restricted to one country or a handful of countries. With data from the 2014 Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services Global Financial Literacy Survey (S&P Global FinLit Survey), the existing research on the gender gap can be elevated to a global level, making this report the first to analyze and discuss the gender gap worldwide. The very comprehensive S&P Global FinLit Survey data set allows us to study differences in the financial literacy rates between men and women around the world.