[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-113279-en":3,"doc-seo-113279-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},113279,8796095461564,"Liam","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d",8,"Research & Report","The Global Findex Database 2021 - Financial Access - Accounts and digital services support inclusion","Financial access is presented as the foundation of financial inclusion through account ownership, enabling people to store, send, and receive money and to invest in health, education, and businesses. Account holders are also shown to better avoid poverty by relying on savings and receiving resources during emergencies, while households without accounts depend on informal and less safe mechanisms. Evidence highlights that digital services such as mobile money strengthen shock resilience by improving risk sharing, raising remittances and consumption, and supporting health and poverty outcomes. Special attention is given to women’s empowerment through savings and mobile money adoption, and to policy shifts during COVID-19 that accelerated digital adoption.","Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized  \nCHAPTER 1  \nFinancial Access  \n1.1 Account ownership  \n1.2 Opportunities to increase account ownership through an enabling environment  \nIntroduction  \nAccount ownership, the fundamental measure of financial inclusion, is the gateway that equips men and women to use financial services in a way that facilitates development. Owners of accounts—whether those accounts are with a bank or regulated institution such as a credit union, microfinance institution, or mobile money service provider—are able to store, send, and receive money, enabling the owners to invest in health, education, and businesses.  \nAccount holders are better able to avoid a slide into poverty because they find it easier to rely on savings or receive financial resources from friends or family in the event of a financial emergency, such as an income loss or crop failure. Evidence shows that households and businesses that have access to financial services such as payments, savings accounts, and credit are better able to withstand financial shocks than those that do not.1 People without an account must, by contrast, manage their money using informal mechanisms that may be less safe, less reliable, and more expensive than formal methods.  \nDigital financial services such as mobile money accounts let users safely and inexpensively store funds and transfer them quickly across long distances, which leads to higher domestic remittances and consumption. For example, in Kenya researchers found that mobile money users who experienced an unexpected drop in income were able to receive money from a more geographically disbursed social network of family and friends and did not have to reduce household spending. By contrast, nonusers and users with poor access to the mobile money network reduced their purchases of food and other items by between 7 percent and 10 percent.2 In Tanzania, a country in which many are dependent on agriculture, low rainfall resulted in lower consumption on average, but mobile money users were able to maintain consumption because of improved risk sharing.3 Researchers in Uganda found that adopting mobile money services increased the total value of remittances by 36 percent and was associated with a 13 percent increase in per capita consumption.4 In Bangladesh, investigators introduced mobile money accounts to very poor rural households and family members who had migrated to the city and found that mobile money increased remittance payments. As a result, rural households spent more on food and other items and reduced borrowing, and extreme poverty fell.5 And another study in Kenya revealed that mobile money users spent more on health care and were more likely to use formal health services when experiencing a medical emergency.6  \nFor women, studies show that accounts can enable financial independence and strengthen economic empowerment. In a field experiment in the Philippines, researchers found that women who used commitment savings products that encouraged regular deposits into a personal account with a rural bank increased their household decision-making power and shifted their spending to household goods relevant to their needs, such  \n1. Moore et al. (2019) .  \n2. Jack and Suri (2014) .  \n3. Riley (2018) .  \n4. Munyegera and Matsumoto (2016) .  \n5. Lee et al. (2021) .  \n6. Haseeb and Cowan (2021) .  \nFinancial Access 9  \nas washing machines.7 In Kenya, researchers compared women’s development outcomes in areas where mobile money accounts spread rapidly with those in areas where they were less widespread. They found that areas with high mobile money access had fewer women in poverty by 9 percentage points, and their consumption was higher by more than 18.5 percentage points compared with that in areas with limited mobile money access.8 In another study, women-headed households spent 15 percent more on nutritious foods after receiving free savings accounts.9 Access to mobile money–based sa","cbCaie2hKoMDpmfZ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaie2hKoMDpmfZ","pdf",6110233,1,41,"English","en",105,"# Financial Access\n## Account ownership\n## Opportunities to increase account ownership","[{\"question\":\"Why is account ownership considered the gateway to financial inclusion?\",\"answer\":\"Account ownership enables people to store, send, and receive money using regulated institutions or mobile money services. This access supports saving, investment, and participation in financial services that facilitate development.\"},{\"question\":\"How do digital financial services like mobile money improve resilience during shocks?\",\"answer\":\"Mobile money allows users to transfer and receive funds quickly across distances, supporting risk sharing and maintaining consumption. Studies cited in the document show higher remittance values and limited reductions in spending when income drops or rainfall declines.\"},{\"question\":\"What benefits do accounts bring for women’s economic empowerment?\",\"answer\":\"Accounts can strengthen financial independence and decision-making power by enabling structured saving and shifting spending toward household needs. The document also links mobile money and savings tools to reduced reliance on high-risk income sources.\"}]",1784502174,103,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":27},"the-global-findex-database-2021-financial-access-accounts-and-digital-services-support-inclusion","",{"@graph":35,"@context":85},[36,53,68],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-global-findex-database-2021-financial-access-accounts-and-digital-services-support-inclusion/113279/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-20","2026-07-19",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Why is account ownership considered the gateway to financial inclusion?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Account ownership enables people to store, send, and receive money using regulated institutions or mobile money services. This access supports saving, investment, and participation in financial services that facilitate development.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How do digital financial services like mobile money improve resilience during shocks?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Mobile money allows users to transfer and receive funds quickly across distances, supporting risk sharing and maintaining consumption. Studies cited in the document show higher remittance values and limited reductions in spending when income drops or rainfall declines.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What benefits do accounts bring for women’s economic empowerment?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Accounts can strengthen financial independence and decision-making power by enabling structured saving and shifting spending toward household needs. 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