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59% of adults in Nigeria, other low- middle income economies borrowed in 2024, says World Bank

World Bank e1751023799813

A new report from the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 reveals that 59per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, borrowed money in 2024, either through formal, semi-formal, or informal channels to take care of their needs.

The findings highlight the evolving landscape of credit access and note persistent disparities in financial inclusion across regions.

The survey, which covered 139 economies, asked respondents whether they borrowed money in the past year and identified the sources of those funds.

While borrowing was widespread, only 24per cent of adults—or 40per cent of borrowers—accessed formal credit, such as loans from banks, credit unions, mobile money providers, or credit cards.

“Credit is a vital tool for financial resilience and opportunity, but access remains uneven,” the report notes.

According to the report,  24per cent of adults borrowed through banks, credit cards, or mobile money accounts and five per cent borrowed from savings clubs or rotating credit associations

The report found that informal borrowing was more prevalent in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa, where over 45per cent of adults borrowed informally only. In contrast, just 19per cent of adults in East Asia and the Pacific relied solely on informal credit.

The report highlights significant gaps in borrowing behaviour. Women were more likely than men to borrow informally only in all regions except East Asia and the Pacific.

Adults in the poorest 40per cent of households were 15 percentage points more likely to borrow informally than those in the wealthiest 60per cent.

The report noted that rural borrowers were 19 percentage points more likely than urban residents to rely on informal credit, while those out of the workforce were more likely to borrow informally than wage or self-employed individuals.

Mobile money continues to play a growing role in formal borrowing, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where seven per cent of adults borrowed through mobile money accounts in 2024.

Although this figure remains unchanged from 2021, mobile money now accounts for nearly 60per cent of all formal borrowing in the region.

Looking at the breakdown, in Kenya, 32per cent of adults borrowed via mobile money, with 25per cent relying solely on this method, while in Ghana, 22per cent borrowed through mobile money, driving an overall increase in formal borrowing.

Uganda saw 22% of borrowings done via mobile money, with most relying exclusively on this channel.

The report notes that mobile money loans are typically small, short-term, and carry high effective interest rates, but they can modestly improve consumption and financial well-being.

“As mobile phone ownership and financial services expand, mobile money borrowing offers new opportunities—but its impact is limited and not transformative,” the report states.

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