Financial inclusion is accelerating — and savings are leading the way

The World Bank's Global Findex 2025 shows the fastest rise in formal saving in over a decade, driven by mobile phones. Here is what changed, and what it means for teams that measure financial health.

Every few years the World Bank asks around 145,000 adults in more than 140 economies a simple set of questions: do you have an account, do you save, how do you pay and get paid? The 2025 edition of the Global Findex, based on surveys run through 2024, carries one of the most encouraging messages the series has delivered in years.

The headline: saving, not just access

For a long time, financial inclusion was measured mainly by access — how many adults have an account. That number keeps climbing: nearly 80% of adults worldwide now have one, up from about half in 2011.

The bigger story in 2025 is what people do with those accounts. In developing economies, 40% of adults saved in a financial account in 2024, up 16 percentage points since 2021. The World Bank describes it as the fastest rise in more than a decade.

That matters because saving is where inclusion starts to change outcomes. An account that is opened for a single transfer and never used again does little for a household. An account that holds an emergency buffer helps a family absorb a poor harvest, a medical bill or a delayed payment without selling assets or taking expensive credit.

Mobile phones are doing the heavy lifting

The survey points clearly to mobile technology as the driver. One in ten adults in developing economies used a mobile-money account to save in 2024, up 5 percentage points from 2021. Digital merchant payments rose too: 42% of adults in low- and middle-income countries paid a merchant digitally in 2024, compared with 35% in 2021.

Sub-Saharan Africa stands out. Account ownership in the region reached 58%, up from 49% in 2021, and formal saving rose 12 points to 35% of adults. The region also has the world's highest use of mobile money.

Having worked on agricultural value chains in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin and neighbouring countries, I find this unsurprising and very welcome. Producer groups, processors and traders already coordinate by phone. When payments and savings move onto the same device, they become part of daily business rather than a trip to a branch.

Women are closing the gap

In low- and middle-income countries, women's account ownership rose from 37% in 2011 to 73% in 2024. Globally, 77% of women and 81% of men now have an account. The gap has not disappeared, but it has narrowed substantially.

For programme designers this is practical, not abstract. Programmes that aim to raise women's incomes — in horticulture, food processing or small enterprise — work better when payments reach the person doing the work, in an account she controls.

The opportunity that remains

About 1.3 billion adults still lack access to financial services. Yet roughly 900 million of them already own a mobile phone, including 530 million with a smartphone. The infrastructure for the next wave of inclusion is, to a large extent, already in people's pockets.

The report also flags a sensible caution: of the 4 billion adults in low- and middle-income economies who own a phone, only about half use a password. Growth in digital finance needs to go hand in hand with basic digital safety.

What this means for teams that measure financial health

If you run a programme, fund one, or analyse its results, the 2025 data suggests a few practical shifts:

Measure use, not just access. Track whether accounts are used to save, pay and receive money over time. "Accounts opened" is a starting point, not an outcome.
Disaggregate by gender and location from day one. National averages hide the groups that are catching up fastest, and those that are not.
Add a resilience indicator. A simple question — could the household cover an unexpected expense within a month? — says more about financial health than account counts alone.
Join survey data with administrative data. Programme records, mobile-money transaction summaries and survey results together give a far clearer picture than any one source. A well-designed dashboard can bring them into one view for decision-makers.
Use the public microdata. The Findex microdata is free to download and well documented. It makes an excellent benchmark for your own survey results.

Why I find this encouraging

Good data changes conversations. Ten years ago, debates about financial inclusion often relied on anecdotes. Today, a consistent global survey lets anyone compare countries, track progress and focus effort where it is most needed.

The 2025 results show that well-designed digital tools, combined with patient work on the ground, are helping hundreds of millions of people build a financial cushion. That is progress worth measuring well.

If your team is working out how to measure financial health or programme impact, I'd be glad to compare notes.