Where a Star's Paycheck Is Protected 2026
Introduction
This week the NFL injury report did what it always does: it turned star names into headlines. Detroit Lions tight end Sam LaPorta is dealing with a hip injury and was not seen practicing, while across the league teams are checking the status of stars like Taylor Rapp before the season kicks off. Every one of those updates is also a financial story.
Professional athletes are paid to be healthy, and a season-ending injury is a sudden stop in income. Whether that stop is a crisis or a pause depends on two things the World Bank measures across 217 economies: whether the player’s country has deep formal savings habits, and whether it has a developed insurance and financial services sector. The spread is enormous — and it explains a lot about how different sports economies handle the same bad news.
The Data: Where Adults Save Formally
The Global Findex survey asks adults whether they saved at a financial institution in the past year. Among the economies that dominate global sport — the NFL, NBA, MLB, Premier League, cricket and football powers — the range runs from 80.9% of adults in Norway to 17.2% in Mexico:
| Rank | Economy | Adults saving formally | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 80.9% | 2021 |
| 2 | Sweden | 79.7% | 2021 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 69.3% | 2021 |
| 5 | Australia | 69.2% | 2021 |
| 6 | Denmark | 67.3% | 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 |
| 16 | United Kingdom | 61.0% | 2021 |
| 20 | South Korea | 59.5% | 2021 |
| 23 | Germany | 57.1% | 2021 |
| 29 | Italy | 48.9% | 2021 |
| 40 | Nigeria | 37.7% | 2024 |
| 44 | Brazil | 34.2% | 2024 |
| 55 | Turkiye | 27.4% | 2024 |
| 66 | India | 23.8% | 2024 |
| 84 | Mexico | 17.2% | 2024 |
For the mechanics of what “saving at a financial institution” actually captures — and what it misses — see our explainer on how formal savings work.
The Insurance Layer
Savings are the cushion; insurance is the transfer. The World Bank measures insurance and financial services as a share of service exports — a proxy for how developed a country’s insurance markets are. Here the map shifts dramatically, because insurance is a traded service concentrated in a few hubs:
| Economy | Insurance & financial services (% of service exports) | Year |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 24.2% | 2024 |
| Switzerland | 20.4% | 2024 |
| United States | 19.3% | 2024 |
| Germany | 13.0% | 2024 |
| France | 12.6% | 2024 |
| Kenya | 10.3% | 2024 |
| Mexico | 10.0% | 2024 |
| Canada | 9.9% | 2024 |
| South Africa | 8.6% | 2024 |
| Japan | 7.0% | 2024 |
| Australia | 4.9% | 2024 |
| India | 3.1% | 2024 |
The United Kingdom — home to Lloyd’s of London — leads the sports world here, which is no accident: disability and career-ending insurance for elite athletes has long been underwritten in London. For the deeper story on how insurance and finance underpin elite sports contracts, see where insurance and finance cover elite assets and our explainer on what insurance and financial services trade means.
What the two columns mean for a hurt star
Put the two indicators together and a clear pattern emerges. The deepest protection is found where high formal savings meets a developed insurance sector: the United States (64.9% savings, 19.3% insurance trade), the United Kingdom (61.0%, 24.2%) and Canada (63.9%, 9.9%) give an injured star both a personal buffer and a market that can underwrite income-replacement products. The emerging sports powers sit further down both lists: Brazil at 34.2% savings, India at 23.8%, Mexico at 17.2% — which is precisely why so many elite athletes from those countries are paid through structures that route money through high-protection hubs.
This is also a digital story. Where wage payments run through banks and mobile money, a career interruption is easier to manage — see where salaries are paid digitally and our ranking of where sports money moves digitally.
What 2026 looks like
There are no projections for savings rates or insurance trade shares — they are observed survey and balance-of-payments figures, with the latest waves from 2021 (Findex) and 2024 (trade data). What 2026 adds is a steady climb in financial inclusion: China reached 66.5% formal savings on its 2024 reading, and digital rails keep widening access in Nigeria and Kenya. The next Findex wave will show whether the gap between the top and bottom of the savings table is closing — and with it, how evenly income protection is spreading across the world’s sports economies.
Sources & method
Formal savings figures come from the World Bank Global Findex (share of adults who saved at a financial institution in the past year, 2021 wave for most economies, 2024 where noted). Insurance and financial services trade figures come from the World Bank World Development Indicators (BX.GSR.INSF.ZS, share of service exports, 2024). Both are drawn from the derived datasets behind this site’s country pages. For full methodology, see our methodology page.