Abstract

Well-functioning financial systems serve a vital purpose, offering savings, credit, payment, and risk management products to people with a wide range of needs. Yet until now little had been known about the global reach of the financial sector - the extent of financial inclusion and the degree to which such groups as the poor, women, and youth are excluded from formal financial systems. Systematic indicators of the use of different financial services had been lacking for most economies.

The Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database provides such indicators. This database contains the first round of Global Findex indicators, measuring how adults in more than 140 economies save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. The data set can be used to track the effects of financial inclusion policies globally and develop a deeper and more nuanced understanding of how people around the world manage their day-to-day finances. By making it possible to identify segments of the population excluded from the formal financial sector, the data can help policy makers prioritize reforms and design new policies.

Geographic coverage

National Coverage.

Analysis unit

Individual

Universe

The target population is the civilian, non-institutionalized population 15 years and above. The sample is nationally representative.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The Global Findex indicators are drawn from survey data collected by Gallup, Inc. over the 2011 calendar year, covering more than 150,000 adults in 148 economies and representing about 97 percent of the world's population. Since 2005, Gallup has surveyed adults annually around the world, using a uniform methodology and randomly selected, nationally representative samples. The second round of Global Findex indicators was collected in 2014 and is forthcoming in 2015. The set of indicators will be collected again in 2017.

Surveys were conducted face-to-face in economies where landline telephone penetration is less than 80 percent, or where face-to-face interviewing is customary. The first stage of sampling is the identification of primary sampling units, consisting of clusters of households. The primary sampling units are stratified by population size, geography, or both, and clustering is achieved through one or more stages of sampling. Where population information is available, sample selection is based on probabilities proportional to population size; otherwise, simple random sampling is used. Random route procedures are used to select sampled households. Unless an outright refusal occurs, interviewers make up to three attempts to survey the sampled household. If an interview cannot be obtained at the initial sampled household, a simple substitution method is used. Respondents are randomly selected within the selected households by means of the Kish grid.

Surveys were conducted by telephone in economies where landline telephone penetration is over 80 percent. The telephone surveys were conducted using random digit dialing or a nationally representative list of phone numbers. In selected countries where cell phone penetration is high, a dual sampling frame is used. Random respondent selection is achieved by using either the latest birthday or Kish grid method. At least three attempts are made to teach a person in each household, spread over different days and times of year.

The sample size in the majority of economies was 1,000 individuals.

Mode of data collection

Landline and cellular telephone

Research instrument

The questionnaire was designed by the World Bank, in conjunction with a Technical Advisory Board composed of leading academics, practitioners, and policy makers in the field of financial inclusion. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Gallup, Inc. also provided valuable input. The questionnaire was piloted in over 20 countries using focus groups, cognitive interviews, and field testing. The questionnaire is available in 142 languages upon request.

Questions on insurance, mobile payments, and loan purposes were asked only in developing economies. The indicators on awareness and use of microfinance insitutions (MFIs) are not included in the public dataset. However, adults who report saving at an MFI are considered to have an account; this is reflected in the composite account indicator.

Sampling error estimates

Estimates of standard errors (which account for sampling error) vary by country and indicator. For country- and indicator-specific standard errors, refer to the Annex and Country Table in Demirguc-Kunt, Asli and L. Klapper. 2012. "Measuring Financial Inclusion: The Global Findex." Policy Research Working Paper 6025, World Bank, Washington, D.C.