Gallup and World Bank Data Help to Power New G20 Financial Data Portal

It goes without saying that, here at Gallup, we are data people. Through the World Poll, we collect data measuring attitudes and behaviors in 160 countries and share our findings with the world through Gallup.com. We also partner with organizations such as the World Bank and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to make our data accessible to policymakers, researchers, and private-sector leaders.

So we are excited to share that the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) is releasing its Financial Inclusion Data Portal, which represents a compilation of financial inclusion data on individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The World Bank's Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database, based on 150,000 interviews carried out by Gallup through its World Poll, is one of three data sources represented on this portal.

The Global Findex is an individual-level data set that measures how adults in 148 economies save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. These data have already revealed that more than 2.5 billion adults worldwide lack a formal account. We've also gained valuable insights about how respondents access and use financial tools, including mobile payments, and broadened our understanding of the barriers to financial services, such as high fees, excessive documentation requirements, and burdensome travel costs.

Since the release of the Global Findex in April 2012, policymakers, private-sector leaders, and journalists have widely discussed and disseminated the data and findings. And Gallup is already collecting the next round of main indicators and planning to completely update the data set in 2014.

The Global Findex is just one of the foundations of the G20 Basic Set of Financial Inclusion Indicators that the G20 leaders endorsed in Los Cabos last June. The G20 Basic Set reflects several important and interrelated dimensions of financial inclusion. The G20 Basic Set indicators measure usage and access among individuals and SMEs, and they draw on user-level and financial provider-side data, as detailed in the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor's blog by GPFI co-chairs. Taken together, these indicators offer a comprehensive view of financial inclusion on a global scale. The G20 Basic Set -- consisting of both supply- and demand-side data -- reinforces the notion that each dimension is inextricably linked to the others.

Today, data from the Global Findex, along with data from the International Monetary Fund's Financial Access surveys and the World Bank's Enterprise surveys, are available from a one-stop data portal.Website users can download the complete set, view the aggregate statistics, or create customized graphs and maps.

The G20 Basic Set indicators are big steps toward making it possible for policymakers and private-sector leaders to access data allowing them to develop a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the financial behavior of adults worldwide.