developing economies

FIGURE 2.2.2 Formal savings increased over the past decade in both high-income and developing economies

Adults saving at a financial institution or using a mobile money account in the past year (%), 2011–21

Source: Global Findex Database 2021. Note: Data for 2021 include saving using a mobile money account.

having saved using their mobile money account. Indeed, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the average share of adults saving using a mobile money account is equal to the share of adults saving at a financial institution, including about one-third (5 percent of adults) who used both a mobile money account and a financial institution account for that purpose (figure 2.2.3). Saving using a mobile money account is especially widespread in Ghana and Kenya, where 37 percent of adults reported doing so, as well as in Senegal and Uganda, where about 30 percent did so. Meanwhile, in Gabon and Zambia between 22 and 26 percent did so, rounding out the list of economies with a mobile money savings share of at least 20 percent. The share of adults who saved any money in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2021 was essentially unchanged from 2017 (figure 2.2.3). But saving using a mobile money account significantly expanded the share of adults who saved formally. On average, 26 percent of adults—or about half of savers—saved formally in 2021 in Sub-Saharan Africa, up from 15 percent in 2017. This increase in formal saving stemmed almost entirely from adults who reported having saved using a mobile money account but not at a financial institution. Indeed, in some economies in the region the share of adults saving formally nearly or more than doubled thanks to the inclusion of saving using a mobile money account (figure 2.2.4). In Kenya, for example, the share of adults who saved any money in the past year was about 70 percent in both 2017 and 2021. But the share who saved formally increased to 45 percent in 2021, up from 27 percent in 2017. Notably, the share of adults saving at a financial institution fell by 5 percentage points over that period. At the same time, the share of adults who saved semiformally stayed about the same—about 32 percent in both 2017 and 2021. But close to two-thirds of these adults also saved using a mobile money account. As a result, these respondents show up in the “saved formally using a mobile money account” category based on how the mutually exclusive categories are constructed in figure 2.2.4. The fact that adults saved using a mobile money account in addition to saving semiformally or using other methods illustrates the convenience and security of mobile money accounts as a tool for saving.