WASHINGTON—Globally, 69% of adults, representing 3.8 billion people, now have an account at a bank or mobile money provider, a crucial step in escaping poverty, the World Bank has said.
The lender stated this in its new report on the use of financial services. It however noted that financial inclusion is on the rise globally, accelerated by mobile phones and the Internet, but gains have been uneven across countries. The study also finds that men remain more likely than women to have an account, noted New Telegraph in its analysis.
This is up from 62% in 2014 and just 51% in 2011. From 2014 to 2017, 515 million adults obtained an account and 1.2 billion have done so since 2011, according to the Global Findex database. While in some economies account ownership has surged, progress has been slower elsewhere, often held back by large disparities between men and women and between the rich and poor, World Bank noted.
The gap between men and women in developing economies remains unchanged since 2011, at nine percentage points.
Globally, 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked, yet two-thirds of them own a mobile phone that could help them access financial services, the study noted. It concludes that digital technology could take advantage of existing cash transactions to bring people into the financial system, New Telegraph said.