Top Global Credit Access Indicators

Credit Access and Financial Inclusion

Individuals need access to affordable, credit products all around the world. This is especially important for those in developing countries where credit markets are less mature. In low and lower middle income countries where many families engage in subsistence agriculture, access to credit is especially essential so that farmers can borrow against the returns from their harvest to buy the necessary inputs to grow. These countries are the ones where small business could benefit from microloans to finance productive assets. However these locales are exactly the places where credit access is often lacking. Sometimes this is due to a lack of information, when lenders lack information about borrowers, or the enabling environment, they may be reticent to lend. At other times it is driven by the fact that very small loans are not profitable for large lenders.

However, before we can assess the scope of the issues, we need good data on the underlying problem. There are a range of global indicators of credit access and financial inclusion that can serve to support global business and donors looking to invest in these markets.

1. The Global Findex Database

Produced by the World Bank with the support of the Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation, the Global Findex Database (or Findex for short) is a demand-side indicator on financial inclusion and credit access. They have a wide range of indicators looking at whether individuals have access to various financial products, what products they use, and if they don't use them, why they don't. Leora Klapper and Dorothe Singer are two of the main researchers involved in the report. The bedrock component of this index captures what percent of the population (15 years and older) has access to an account, either through a bank or through a mobile money service. This indicator serves as the source for SDG 8.10.2.

• Update Frequency: Every 3 Years, most recent update in 2025

• Country Coverage: 141 Countries (56 LIC/LMIC) in 2025, though some only have the baseline questions

• Data Gathering Methodology: Household Survey

• Concepts Covered: Hundreds of indicators focused on the credit and financial resources of individuals

• Further Disaggregation: Data are broken down by gender and household income.

• Ranking and Aggregation: No Ranking or Aggregation

2. The Financial Access Survey (FAS)

Produced by the IMF based on responses by country governments to a survey on the banking sector, the Financial Access Survey (FAS) is one of the top "Supply Side" datasets capturing the state of the financial sector in a given country. They have a wide range of indicators including on the number of lenders and borrowers in a country, the value of transactions, the number of loans, and deposits, broken down by the type of financial institution. The data is used to inform SDG 8.10.1. Questions about this dataset can be directed to STAFAS@imf.org.

• Update Frequency: Rolling updates, major report published annually in October.

• Country Coverage: Varies by indicator, 165 Countries had Bank Branch data for 2024,

• Data Gathering Methodology: Administratively Reported

• Concepts Covered: Over 150 indicators, including, the number of financial institutions (banks, mobile money, ATMs) in a country, the value of transactions, outstanding loans and depositors and more.

• Further Disaggregation: Normalized by per X adults, as a percent of GDP, or per 1,000 sq km. Some indicators are also broken down by gender.

• Ranking and Aggregation: None.

3. Rural Sector Performance Assessment (RSPA)

Produced by the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), this dataset measures a range of governance issues related to rural governance. The Rural Sector Performance Assessment is published every 3 years and is focused on low and lower middle income countries which have a disproportionate share of their population in rural, subsistence agriculture. The component of this index that is relevant here is Cluster 4: Access to and use of rural financial services. While not a broad or general indicator, this dataset provides specific information focused on the needs of an essential but difficult to measure population: rural people in developing countries.

The indicator is made up of four components: Access to and use of rural financial services (quality of regulation, access, use, and policy framework), Investment climate for rural business (government promotion and support for small and medium enterprises), Access to agricultural input and produce markets (number of actors in the market, enabling regulatory environment, level of competition), and Access to extension services (framework for extensions services, reach of the system, and the inclusiveness of the system). Here is a full explanation of the methodology for this indicator. Reports are published in PDF form, so the data is difficult to find and extract. Here is the data for 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2024.

• Update Frequency: Every three years, usually in the winter, most recent update in 2024

• Country Coverage: 63 countries, largely Low and Lower Middle income countries

• Data Gathering Methodology: Expert Assessment and Legal Review.

• Concepts Covered: Four main concepts, focused on rural credit access

• Further Disaggregation: None

• Ranking and Aggregation: Overall rural credit access score, and overall rural governance score.

4. Business Ready (B-READY)

The new fusion of the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys and Doing Business report, the B-READY report is still bringing new countries online and will not have complete country coverage until 2026 at the earliest. However the breadth of the concepts covered by this report is impressive. All B-READY indicators are broken down into three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services and Operational Efficiency, which work to balance the de jure information that was formerly gathered by Doing Business with the more de facto data gathered from the Enterprise Surveys.

The indicator that is relevant to this discussion is the Financial Services indicator, which is divided into the Quality of Regulations for Financial Services (commercial lending, secured transactions, and e-Payments), the Accessibility of Information in Credit Infrastructure (Operation of Credit Bureaus and Collateral Registries). and the Operational Efficiency of Receiving Financial Services (ease of attaining loans and using e-Payments). For more information about these indicators reach out to Norman Lorayza or Valeria Perotti.

• Update Frequency: Rolling 3-year updates, with a third of countries being updated every year. Next edition is expected in December of 2025

• Country Coverage: Currently 50 countries are covered, this is expected to expand to 102 in December of 2025, and 180 countries in 2026.

• Data Gathering Methodology: Legal Review and Business Surveys

• Concepts Covered: 37 sub-indicators focused on a range of issues including the quality of regulations, the accessibility of the credit infrastructure, and the operational efficiency of receiving financial services.

• Further Disaggregation: None

• Ranking and Aggregation: The 37 sub-indicators are grouped into seven indicators, further grouped into 3 pillars, and then aggregated into a single total score.

5. GSMA Mobile Money Regulatory Index

The Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) produces several datasets related to mobile money including a deployment tracker, a prevalence index, and a regulatory index. Given that this is produced by an industry group, it is geared towards measuring regulations that are favorable to the mobile money business.

The index has 40 indicators which are grouped into 6 dimensions. The 6 dimensions focus on Transparency/Disclosure, Authorization, Consumer protection, Integrity, Oversight/Operational Governance, and Policy Enablement. The specifics of these indicators are broken down in the annual report.

• Update Frequency: Annually, most recent update in January 2024

• Country Coverage: 90 Countries, primarily in the developing world.

• Data Gathering Methodology: Legal Review

• Concepts Covered: 40 indicators on the enabling environment for mobile money.

• Further Disaggregation: None

• Ranking and Aggregation: 40 indicators aggregated into 6 dimensions, aggregated into a single score.