Nigeria Has Highest Number Of Unbanked Population

Nigeria arguably has the highest number of unbanked and underserved population compared to other countries across the globe, the acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Mary Uduk has said.

She spoke in Lagos recently where she gave the keynote address at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Data Workshop 2018.

Citing a recent data by the World Bank in its Global Findex Database released during the Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington DC, Uduk said about 2 billion individuals and 200 million businesses remain excluded from the financial system across the globe.

According to the report, only 40 percent of Nigerian adults have bank accounts, noting that Nigeria and six other countries are home to nearly half of the 2 billion people who do not have bank accounts.

“Globally, about 2 billion adults remain unbanked—without an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider. Indeed, nearly half live in just seven developing economies: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan.”

“The gap between men and women in developing economies remains unchanged since 2011, at 9 percentage points.”

The National Population Commission (NPC) pegs Nigeria’s estimated population at 198 million, the seventh largest in the world.

The Bretton Wood institution said most people in sub-Saharan African countries save for a business in contrast to adults in high-income economies who save for old age.

‘’Nearly half of adults in high-income economies reported saving for old age. In developing economies only 16 percent did. Saving for a business is more common in many Sub-Saharan African economies— reported by 29 percent or more of adults in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria, for example,” the report read.