More sub-Saharan Africans now have mobile money than bank accounts
Adults 15+ with a mobile money account vs a bank or other financial-institution account, 2024, World Bank Global Findex.
- 1. By 2100, more than 1 in 3 people will be African
- 2. Nearly half the world's under-25s will be African by 2100
- 3. DR Congo is projected to outgrow the US by 2100
- 4. Kinshasa will soon be bigger than Paris and London combined
- 5. Two-thirds of the world's mobile money moves in Africa
- 6. Volcanic heat makes nearly 45% of the power Kenya generates
- 7. Africa's solar imports more than doubled since early 2024
- 8. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
- 9. Nearly two in three people in Africa are still offline
- 10. Africa formally recycles less than 1% of its e-waste
- 11. Ethiopia added over a third of Africa's new renewable power
- 12. Nigeria's cities now hold more people than Japan's
- 13. Sudan now has the world's most people displaced at home
- 14. Nigeria now has almost 25 million more people than Brazil
- 15. Six of the ten fastest-growing big cities are African
- 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
- 17. Six in ten child deaths now happen in sub-Saharan Africa
- 18. Rwanda spread electricity faster than any country since 2014
- 19. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
- 20. More sub-Saharan Africans now have mobile money than bank accounts
- 21. Sub-Saharan Africa's cities now hold more people than Latin America's
- 22. DR Congo tripled its copper mining in ten years
Adults in sub-Saharan Africa with a mobile money account in 2024, now above the 37.8% with a bank account. In 2021 it was 27.3% vs 36.1%.
Kenya's mobile money share, almost double its 45.4% with a bank account. In Côte d'Ivoire it is 53.4% vs 16.8%.
Mobile money share for the world as a whole, against 75.3% for banks: Africa is building its finance on the phone first.
the numbers & method
| Bank account (%) | Mobile money (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 37.8 | 40.0 |
| Kenya | 45.4 | 87.5 |
| Ghana | 38.7 | 78.3 |
| Zambia | 24.1 | 69.3 |
| Uganda | 26.2 | 67.7 |
| Senegal | 48.0 | 66.9 |
| Gabon | 24.8 | 61.6 |
| Cameroon | 21.0 | 55.1 |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 16.8 | 53.4 |
| Tanzania | 21.9 | 52.9 |
| Malawi | 12.4 | 47.4 |
| World | 75.3 | 16.0 |
Claim types Fact · Interpretation
World Bank Global Findex 2025 (survey year 2024), series mobileaccount.t.d 'Mobile money account (% age 15+)' and fiaccount.t.d 'Bank or similar financial institution account (% age 15+)', read from the World Bank API (source 28; series last updated 6 Oct 2025 and 14 Oct 2026): api.worldbank.org/v2/country/SSA;WLD;KEN;GHA;ZMB;UGA;SEN;GAB;CMR;CIV;TZA;MWI/indicator/mobileaccount.t.d?source=28. Region = Sub-Saharan Africa excluding high income. 2024, mobile money vs financial institution account: region 40.0 vs 37.8; World 16.0 vs 75.3; Kenya 87.5 vs 45.4; Ghana 78.3 vs 38.7; Zambia 69.3 vs 24.1; Uganda 67.7 vs 26.2; Senegal 66.9 vs 48.0; Gabon 61.6 vs 24.8; Cameroon 55.1 vs 21.0; Côte d'Ivoire 53.4 vs 16.8; Tanzania 52.9 vs 21.9; Malawi 47.4 vs 12.4. Region in 2021: 27.3 vs 36.1, so mobile money passed bank accounts between the 2021 and 2024 survey rounds. Survey estimates with sampling error; the regional gap (2.2 points) is small. Many adults hold both kinds of account, so the two shares are not exclusive. Takeaway 3's reading is an interpretation. A different measure from plate 039 (Africa's share of the world's mobile money transaction value, GSMA): this plate counts account ownership. Bank-account shares fell 2021 → 2024 in Kenya (50.6 → 45.4), Uganda (36.6 → 26.2) and Malawi (20.2 → 12.4). Licence: World Bank, CC BY 4.0.
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