Globally, 2.5 billion people are “unbanked,” lacking access to formal financial services. As a result, roughly one third of the world’s population is forced to rely on cash transactions or informal financial systems, which can often be unsafe, inconvenient, and expensive. Among the unbanked, however, a billion have access to a mobile phone, and mobile-based financial services are quickly closing the financial access gap.
The 14 mobile money programs profiled in this compendium span a range of countries, health topics, and application types, from health insurance schemes promoting universal health coverage, to lottery voucher payments encouraging parents to vaccinate their children against polio and other diseases.