Where Domestic Money Transfers Remain Outside Accounts in 2026
Introduction
Moving money within a country does not always mean moving it through an account. In the 2024 World Bank Global Findex data, Cambodia records the widest difference between adults participating in domestic remittances by any method and adults doing so through an account: 31.5 percentage points. At the other end of the digitalisation measure, 88.9% of domestic-remittance participation in Kenya is account-based.
Those figures describe two related but distinct questions. The first is the size of the non-account residual: total domestic-remittance participation minus account-based participation. The second is the account-based share: account-based participation divided by total participation. This report ranks both measures across the 86 economies with matched 2024 observations.
For the conceptual guide to these two measures, see how to measure domestic-transfer digitalisation. For the broader ecosystem, see our explainer on the hidden economy of domestic money transfers.
The largest non-account residuals
The table subtracts the account-based rate from the total domestic-remittance rate. It does not directly count cash transactions; it identifies participation captured by the broader measure but not by the account-based measure.
| Rank | Economy | Any domestic remittance | Account-based | Residual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cambodia | 58.7% | 27.2% | 31.5 pp |
| 2 | Mali | 65.5% | 36.9% | 28.5 pp |
| 3 | Dominican Republic | 52.5% | 24.4% | 28.1 pp |
| 4 | Niger | 39.7% | 14.9% | 24.9 pp |
| 5 | Mauritania | 55.0% | 30.8% | 24.2 pp |
| 6 | Gambia | 49.2% | 25.4% | 23.8 pp |
| 7 | Philippines | 46.8% | 24.5% | 22.3 pp |
| 8 | Liberia | 64.1% | 42.0% | 22.1 pp |
| 9 | DR Congo | 51.6% | 29.7% | 21.9 pp |
| 10 | Lebanon | 25.3% | 5.0% | 20.3 pp |
All values are observed 2024 shares of adults age 15 or older. The ranking shows why total activity and digitalisation should not be treated as synonyms. Mali has high domestic-remittance participation, yet only 56.4% of that participation is represented by the account-based rate. Lebanon has much lower overall participation and the lowest account-based share in the matched set, 19.8%.
The pattern is not confined to one region. The top ten include economies in East Asia, West and Central Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, and the Middle East. A large residual therefore signals a channel gap in the survey measures, not a single regional model.
Where account-based channels cover most participation
A percentage-point gap is affected by the overall size of the domestic-transfer market. Dividing the account-based rate by the total rate answers a different question: what share of measured participation is represented by account use?
| Rank | Economy | Any domestic remittance | Account-based | Account-based share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenya | 60.1% | 53.4% | 88.9% |
| 2 | Lesotho | 54.4% | 47.4% | 87.2% |
| 3 | Senegal | 75.9% | 66.1% | 87.0% |
| 4 | Ghana | 77.7% | 65.2% | 83.9% |
| 5 | Mongolia | 45.3% | 37.3% | 82.5% |
| 6 | Uganda | 71.5% | 58.4% | 81.7% |
| 7 | Gabon | 69.1% | 56.4% | 81.7% |
| 8 | Thailand | 49.3% | 39.6% | 80.2% |
| 9 | Zambia | 66.5% | 53.0% | 79.7% |
| 10 | Kazakhstan | 38.7% | 30.3% | 78.3% |
The leaders combine substantial domestic-transfer participation with a relatively small residual. Kenya, for example, has a 6.7-point residual, while Senegal has a 9.8-point residual despite a higher total participation rate.
This is also why the ratio should accompany, not replace, the percentage-point measure. North Macedonia has a small 6.9-point residual, but account-based participation is only 4.9% against total participation of 11.8%. Its account-based share is therefore just 41.4%. A small absolute gap can reflect a small transfer market rather than broad digitalisation.
Four different transfer profiles
The matched data reveal four useful profiles:
- High participation, high account coverage. Ghana combines 77.7% total participation with a 83.9% account-based share. Senegal combines 75.9% with 87.0%.
- High participation, large residual. Cambodia has 58.7% total participation but a 31.5-point residual. Mali has 65.5% total participation and a 28.5-point residual.
- Lower participation, low account coverage. Iraq records 26.2% total participation, 6.4% account-based participation and a 24.4% account-based share.
- Lower participation, moderate account coverage. Mexico records 20.0% total participation and 11.6% account-based participation, equivalent to 58.4% of the total rate.
These profiles prevent a common mistake: ranking digital transfer systems with only one input. High domestic-remittance participation measures the importance of transfers; high account coverage measures how strongly formal or mobile accounts appear in that activity.
For context on the infrastructure that can support account-based transfers, see our analysis of the mobile money agent network and our report on registered versus active mobile money accounts.
Sources & method
Both inputs come from the World Bank Global Findex. fh1.fh2 measures adults who sent or received domestic remittances, while fin28.29 measures adults who sent or received domestic remittances using an account. FinStatGlobe’s derived datasets contain 86 economies with matched 2024 observations for both topics.
The residual is calculated as total participation minus account-based participation. The account-based share is account-based participation divided by total participation. These are FinStatGlobe comparisons of two survey indicators, not direct observations of transaction counts, transfer values, cash volumes or causal effects. Every figure above is observed 2024 data; no projection is used. See the methodology page for dataset construction and ranking conventions.