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The Global Findex Database 2021 survey headline findings on financial wellbeing

Beyond the ways in which payments, savings, and credit could help lower poverty rates, increase consumption, and enable more spending on education, health, and income-generating opportunities, development goals also include improvements in well-being. The Global Findex 2021 defines well-being as a person’s financial resilience (the ability to deal with an unexpected financial event), level of stress generated by common financial issues, and level of confidence in using financial resources. Financial inclusion can support well-being by helping people feel secure in their financial future.

The Global Findex 2021 survey assessed financial resilience by asking respondents whether they could come up with extra funds if they had a significant unexpected expense and where they would get the money. The headline results were as follows:

  • Fifty-five percent of adults in developing economies could access extra funds within 30 days without much difficulty.
  • Family and friends are the first-line source of extra funds for 30 percent of adults in developing economies, but nearly half of those say the money would be hard to get. Reliance on family and friends is as high as 50 percent in the Middle East and North Africa.

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  • Women and the poor are less likely than men and richer individuals to successfully raise extra funds, and they are more likely to rely on family and friends as their go-to source.