Where Firms Most Rely on Bank Loans
How many firms in a country actually hold a bank loan or a line of credit is one of the most direct readings of whether the formal banking system reaches business. The World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys measure exactly that — the share of firms with a bank loan or line of credit — and across the 145 economies with data on FinStatGlobe the spread is enormous: from 2.1% of firms in Pakistan (2022) to 88.5% in Israel (2024). That is a more than 40-fold gap between the economy where bank finance is rarest and the one where it is nearly universal among firms.
Higher is better here: a larger share means more firms are plugged into formal bank credit rather than relying on retained earnings, supplier credit, or informal lenders. Because Enterprise Surveys are fielded country by country in different years, the readings below carry their own survey years — most between 2020 and 2025 — and there is no clean global time trend to draw. Every figure is an observed value cited with its data year; none are projections. For the wider view of how companies fund themselves, see our overview of how the world finances business.
Where firms most use bank credit
At the top of the table, a majority of firms — sometimes a large one — carry formal bank debt. Israel leads at 88.5% (2024), followed by Peru at 81.2% (2023) and Germany at 77.4% (2025). The leaders are a mix of high-income economies and a few upper-middle-income markets in Latin America and the Western Balkans where bank lending to firms is deeply embedded.
| Rank | Economy | Firms with bank credit | Survey year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Israel | 88.5% | 2024 |
| 2 | Peru | 81.2% | 2023 |
| 3 | Germany | 77.4% | 2025 |
| 4 | Italy | 73.4% | 2024 |
| 5 | Belgium | 71.1% | 2024 |
| 6 | Kosovo | 69.6% | 2025 |
| 7 | Denmark | 68.7% | 2025 |
| 8 | Finland | 66.6% | 2020 |
| 9 | Austria | 66.4% | 2025 |
| 10 | Paraguay | 65% | 2023 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS).
Finland (66.6%, 2020) is the one top-ten economy without a per-country page on the site; it is named here without a link. Europe dominates the upper end — seven of the top ten are European economies — but the presence of Peru and Paraguay shows that high firm-level bank penetration is not the exclusive preserve of high-income markets.
The financing gap
The bottom of the table tells the opposite story: in a string of economies fewer than one firm in ten holds a bank loan or line of credit. Pakistan sits last at 2.1% (2022), just below Iraq at 2.3% (2022), with South Africa at 4.8% (2020) and Guinea at 4.9% (2025) not far above. Most of this tail is in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa group, and it spans income levels — South Africa is an upper-middle-income economy yet still near the very bottom.
| Rank (of 145) | Economy | Firms with bank credit | Survey year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 136 | DR Congo | 8.7% | 2024 |
| 137 | Timor-Leste | 8.3% | 2021 |
| 138 | Madagascar | 8% | 2022 |
| 139 | Angola | 7.4% | 2024 |
| 140 | Egypt | 7% | 2025 |
| 141 | Somalia | 5.4% | 2025 |
| 142 | Guinea | 4.9% | 2025 |
| 143 | South Africa | 4.8% | 2020 |
| 144 | Iraq | 2.3% | 2022 |
| 145 | Pakistan | 2.1% | 2022 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS).
Somalia (5.4%, 2025) is named without a link, as it has no per-country page. In these economies the binding constraint on business finance is not the price of credit but access to it at all — the kind of gap explored in our look at capital and business finance.
The distribution
The cross-country median is 34.7% and the mean is 34.3% — unusually close, which signals a fairly symmetric spread rather than the long tail seen in many financial indicators. By each economy’s latest value, the field clusters in the middle: 60 economies fall in the 25–50% band, the single largest group and where the median lands. Below that, 39 economies sit in the 10–25% band and 15 are under 10%. Above the middle, 28 economies are in the 50–75% band and just 3 reach 75% or higher.
| Share of firms with bank credit | Economies |
|---|---|
| Under 10% | 15 |
| 10–25% | 39 |
| 25–50% | 60 |
| 50–75% | 28 |
| 75% and above | 3 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS), latest value per economy.
Only three economies — Israel, Peru, and Germany — clear the 75% mark, while at the other extreme 15 sit under 10%. Most of the world’s developing economies land somewhere between a quarter and half of firms using formal bank finance.
The income gradient
The clearest pattern in the data is the income gradient. Among the 45 high-income economies in the universe, the median share of firms with bank credit is 43.6%; among the 37 upper-middle-income economies it is 43%, almost identical. But the share falls off sharply lower down: the median is 21.9% across 42 lower-middle-income economies and just 16.9% across the 20 low-income economies. In other words, firms in the poorest economies are roughly two and a half times less likely to hold a bank loan than firms in high-income ones.
| Income group | Median firms with bank credit | Economies |
|---|---|---|
| High income | 43.6% | 45 |
| Upper middle income | 43% | 37 |
| Lower middle income | 21.9% | 42 |
| Low income | 16.9% | 20 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS), income-group medians over latest value per economy. One economy is not classified by income (median 23.5%) and is omitted from the table.
This gradient is the central finding. The gap between the upper two income groups is negligible, but the step down to lower-middle and low income is steep — the financing gap is concentrated where firms are smallest and banking systems thinnest. It mirrors the lending-stress picture in our coverage of bad loans and bank stress, where weaker banking systems both lend less and carry more risk.
Regional picture
The regional medians track the income story closely. Latin America & Caribbean leads at 52.1% (14 economies), ahead of North America at 46.2% (2 economies) and Europe & Central Asia at 43.6% (43 economies). South Asia sits at 40.1% (6 economies), followed by East Asia & Pacific at 28.2% (21 economies). The two lowest regional medians are nearly tied at the bottom: the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan group at 19.9% (14 economies) and Sub-Saharan Africa at 19.4% (45 economies), the largest regional sample in the set.
| Region | Median firms with bank credit | Economies |
|---|---|---|
| Latin America & Caribbean | 52.1% | 14 |
| North America | 46.2% | 2 |
| Europe & Central Asia | 43.6% | 43 |
| South Asia | 40.1% | 6 |
| East Asia & Pacific | 28.2% | 21 |
| Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan | 19.9% | 14 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 19.4% | 45 |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS), regional medians over latest value per economy.
Sub-Saharan Africa and the MENA-plus group anchor the bottom, consistent with the income gradient and with the bottom-ten table, where both regions are heavily represented. For more on how firms pay and finance one another, see our B2B payments category.
Sources & method
All figures are observed values from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, the share of firms with a bank loan or line of credit (indicator code IC.FRM.BNKL.ZS), measured by the World Bank Enterprise Surveys and expressed as a percent of firms. The data describe a developing-economy universe: the ranking covers 145 economies, each at its most recent available survey reading, with survey years spanning roughly 2020 to 2025. Because higher is better, rank 1 (Israel, 88.5%) is the economy where firms most rely on bank credit and rank 145 (Pakistan, 2.1%) the least.
The cross-country median (34.7%) and mean (34.3%), the distribution bands, and the income-group and regional medians were all computed by FinStatGlobe over each economy’s single latest value. Of the 145 economies, 24 do not yet have a per-country page on the site and are named without links above. Enterprise Surveys are fielded country by country in different years, so the series are sparse and not comparable as a single global time trend — no time-trend ranking is presented. The figures are reproduced verbatim from the World Bank source and are not endorsed by it. See our methodology for how derived datasets are built.