How Mobile Money Transforms Savings: Formal + Mobile Money Savings in 2026
Introduction
When the World Bank Global Findex survey asks whether adults “saved any money” at a financial institution or using a mobile money account in the past year, it captures something broader than formal bank savings alone. This combined metric — tracked for 141 economies in FinStatGlobe’s dataset — reveals a world where the savings leaders are not just wealthy Nordic nations, but also mobile-money-powered economies like Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal.
The difference from formal-only savings is dramatic. In our earlier look at how the world saves formally, we found a median of just 22.2% of adults saving at financial institutions. When mobile money savings are added, the picture shifts considerably — especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the average boost from mobile money is +16.9 percentage points.
The Global Rankings
Here is how the top 40 economies rank on combined formal and mobile money savings:
| Rank | Country | Combined Savings | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 80.9% | 2021 |
| 2 | Sweden | 79.7% | 2021 |
| 3 | New Zealand | 69.3% | 2021 |
| 4 | Australia | 69.2% | 2021 |
| 5 | Denmark | 67.3% | 2021 |
| 6 | Ghana | 67.2% | 2024 |
| 7 | Austria | 66.7% | 2021 |
| 8 | China | 66.5% | 2024 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 65.7% | 2021 |
| 10 | United States | 64.9% | 2021 |
| 11 | Canada | 63.9% | 2021 |
| 12 | Japan | 63.8% | 2021 |
| 13 | Ireland | 63.5% | 2021 |
| 14 | Finland | 62.0% | 2021 |
| 15 | Estonia | 61.8% | 2021 |
| 16 | United Kingdom | 61.0% | 2021 |
| 17 | Singapore | 60.5% | 2021 |
| 18 | Czechia | 59.8% | 2021 |
| 19 | Hong Kong | 59.5% | 2021 |
| 20 | South Korea | 59.5% | 2021 |
| 21 | Israel | 59.3% | 2021 |
| 22 | Slovakia | 58.9% | 2021 |
| 23 | Senegal | 58.3% | 2024 |
| 24 | Germany | 57.1% | 2021 |
| 25 | Belgium | 57.0% | 2021 |
| 26 | Switzerland | 56.2% | 2021 |
| 27 | Kenya | 54.4% | 2024 |
| 28 | France | 53.7% | 2021 |
| 29 | Uganda | 53.6% | 2024 |
| 30 | Thailand | 53.6% | 2024 |
| 31 | Spain | 53.5% | 2021 |
| 32 | Malaysia | 52.5% | 2024 |
| 33 | Zambia | 50.1% | 2024 |
| 34 | Italy | 48.9% | 2021 |
| 35 | Bulgaria | 47.7% | 2024 |
| 36 | Lithuania | 46.9% | 2021 |
| 37 | Poland | 45.8% | 2024 |
| 38 | Croatia | 45.8% | 2024 |
| 39 | Malta | 45.6% | 2021 |
| 40 | Vietnam | 44.5% | 2024 |
At the bottom of the table, the picture is stark: Afghanistan records just 1.3%, South Sudan 1.7%, Yemen 3.1%, and Lebanon 3.2% — all below 5% combined savings.
For context on how different the picture looks when bank accounts and mobile money accounts are compared, see our analysis of banks vs. mobile money account ownership.
Where Mobile Money Makes the Biggest Difference
The most striking finding is the contribution of mobile money to savings in Sub-Saharan Africa. When we compare combined savings to formal-only savings, the gap reveals which economies have truly embraced mobile money as a savings tool:
| Rank | Country | Combined | Formal Only | Mobile Money Boost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ghana | 67.2% | 25.9% | +41.3pp |
| 2 | Zambia | 50.1% | 9.5% | +40.6pp |
| 3 | Uganda | 53.6% | 13.4% | +40.2pp |
| 4 | Kenya | 54.4% | 20.1% | +34.3pp |
| 5 | Senegal | 58.3% | 24.1% | +34.2pp |
| 6 | Gabon | 39.1% | 10.7% | +28.3pp |
| 7 | Côte d’Ivoire | 35.6% | 8.4% | +27.3pp |
| 8 | Malawi | 30.9% | 5.4% | +25.4pp |
| 9 | Botswana | 40.1% | 15.6% | +24.5pp |
| 10 | Liberia | 30.1% | 6.3% | +23.9pp |
Ghana is the standout: without mobile money, its savings rate of 25.9% would rank it 56th globally. With mobile money included at 67.2%, it jumps to 6th — ahead of the United States, Japan, and Singapore. This is a direct result of Ghana’s deep mobile money penetration, where services like MTN Mobile Money have become the primary savings instrument for millions.
For more on how mobile money ecosystems operate, see our explainer on the mobile money transaction ecosystem and the top 10 mobile money countries.
Regional Patterns
The regional averages reveal a clear divide:
| Region | Average Combined Savings | Average Mobile Money Boost | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 64.4% | +0.0pp | 2 |
| East Asia & Pacific | 45.4% | +2.4pp | 16 |
| Europe & Central Asia | 40.3% | +0.4pp | 45 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 30.8% | +16.9pp | 36 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 24.7% | +3.4pp | 20 |
| South Asia | 20.4% | +1.2pp | 4 |
| Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan | 18.6% | +1.4pp | 18 |
Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where the mobile money boost is substantial (+16.9pp on average). This reflects the region’s unique path to financial inclusion, where mobile money accounts — not bank accounts — serve as the primary entry point for saving. The boost is negligible in high-income regions because nearly everyone already saves through formal institutions.
For South Asia, the low combined average (20.4%) is driven largely by India at 27.0% and Bangladesh at 22.5%, where mobile money savings remain relatively small compared to the scale of the unbanked population. See our article on how mobile wages drive financial inclusion for a deeper look at how digital wages are changing this.
Analysis: What the Combined Metric Reveals
The combined formal + mobile money savings metric tells a different story from formal-only savings for three reasons:
1. It captures actual saving behavior in mobile-first economies. In Ghana, Zambia, Uganda, and Kenya, the majority of savers use mobile money rather than bank accounts. The formal-only metric would severely undercount financial engagement in these countries.
2. It narrows the gap between regions. Sub-Saharan Africa’s average of 30.8% moves much closer to Europe & Central Asia’s 40.3% when mobile money savings are counted. The formal-only gap is far wider.
3. It shows that mobile money adoption and savings behaviour are tightly linked. The ten countries with the largest mobile money boosts are all in Sub-Saharan Africa, and they correspond closely to economies with mature mobile money agent networks. For more on this, see our article on the mobile money agent network.
For a broader view of how these savings patterns connect to general financial inclusion, see our state of financial inclusion 2026 report.
Time Trends
The Global Findex data allows us to track how combined savings have evolved. In the United States, the rate grew from 50.4% in 2011 to 64.9% in 2021 — a steady 14.5pp increase over a decade. In Kenya, the trajectory is more volatile: 23.3% in 2011, dipping to 26.8% in 2017 before surging to 54.4% in 2024 as M-Pesa expanded its savings-related products.
The most dramatic rise is in Ghana, which went from 13.4% in 2011 to 67.2% in 2024 — a fivefold increase driven almost entirely by mobile money savings. For comparison, formal-only savings in Ghana rose from 9.2% to just 25.9% over the same period.
Sources & Method
All figures in this post come from FinStatGlobe’s derived country datasets, which compile data from the World Bank Global Findex survey. The indicator is “Saved at a financial institution or using a mobile money account in the past year” (code fin17a.17a1.d), capturing the share of adults (age 15+) who report saving at a regulated financial institution or via a mobile money account.
The combined metric differs from formal-only savings (which excludes mobile money) and is available for 141 economies with data from the 2011, 2014, 2017, 2021, and 2024 survey waves. Not all countries have data in all waves. For the latest available data year per country, see the “Year” column in the tables above.
See our methodology page for details on how FinStatGlobe processes, normalises, and ranks this data. For a comparison of formal-only vs combined metrics, read our earlier post on formal savings around the world.