Until now little had been known about the global reach of the financial sector—the extent of financial inclusion and the degree to which such groups as the poor, women, and youth are excluded from formal financial systems. Systematic indica- tors of the use of different financial services had been lacking for most economies. The Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database provides such indicators. This report presents the first round of the Global Findex database, a new set of indicators that measure how adults in 148 economies save, borrow, make pay- ments, and manage risk. The indicators are constructed with survey data from interviews.
