Design
Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey
2026
AN EXCERPT FROM A2F 2026 REPORT
Nigeria’s financial inclusion story is changing.
What the numbers say
79%
Aduults are now formally included
What Access enables people to do.
What Access enables people to do.
Progress
5 million more adults joined the financial system.
Financial inclusion increased from 74% in 2023 to 79% in 2026, while exclusion fell from 26% to 21%.
Financial inclusion*
Up 5 percentage points in three years
* Adults who use regulated and/or non-regulated (informal) financial providers.
Financial exclusion*
Down 5 percentage points in three years
* Adults who use neither regulated nor non-regulated (informal) financial providers.
Source: EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Surveys, 2023 and 2026.
Digital acceleration
Mobile money use more than tripled.
Nigerians are increasingly receiving income, transferring money and making payments digitally.
Share of Nigerian adults using mobile money
Emergency money remains difficult
Emergency pressure is widespread. Financial buffers remain limited.
would find emergency money very difficult to raise*
have savings or assets that could cover two or more months
The evidence points to a dual vulnerability: limited capacity to mobilise emergency funds and insufficient reserves to sustain households through an extended income disruption.
Source: EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey and thematic analysis.
* Emergency funds are defined here as the ability to raise NGN156,000 within 7 days.
The reality
Household shocks are common
Primary response
Savings, assets and social networks
Protection gap
Insurance remains extremely limited
What this means: households largely self-insure, potentially depleting the very resources needed for recovery and longer-term resilience.
Source: EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey
How Nigerians cope matters
Getting through a shock can leave you worse off.
How people respond matters: some coping strategies solve an immediate problem by weakening future resilience.
Resilience-eroding responses
42%used responses that could weaken their future ability to cope
Protective or adaptive responses
14%used approaches classified as protective or adaptive
3×as many relied on resilience-eroding responses as on protective or adaptive approaches.
Source: EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey
Climate is now a household finance issue
Climate shocks are already affecting livelihoods.
Heavy rains and floods are a significant part of this exposure, with adults dependent on agriculture facing greater risk.
of adults were affected by heavy rains and floods
All adultsamong adults earning livelihoods from agriculture
Agricultural livelihoodsExposure is not evenly distributed: people whose livelihoods depend on agriculture face a materially higher incidence of heavy-rain and flood events.
Source: EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey
Farmers are carrying multiple risks
For many farmers, the shock does not end when the event passes.
· Exposure
51%of farmers experienced a shock
All farmers· Aftermath
76%were still struggling afterwards
Among farmers hit by shocksThe second figure applies only to farmers who experienced a shock. It shows that exposure is often followed by a prolonged struggle to recover.Source: EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey
Access to Financial Services Survey 2026
Access was the beginning. What comes next?
Explore A2F 2026 to understand how Nigerians are paying, saving, borrowing, coping with shocks and building their financial lives.
LOAN DISBURSEMENT SPLIT
Who is
borrowing?
Our data revealed that men accounted for 74% of all loan disbursements, while women accounted for just 26%. This shows a persistent gender gap and significant untapped potential among female borrowers.
Despite representing only 26% of total borrowers, women repaid their loans better, indicating that their larger loan amounts do not mean greater credit risk.
₦478k
Women avg loan — higher than men despite fewer disbursements
₦431k
WHY NIGERIANS BORROW
The top three reasons for borrowing show Nigerians using credit to survive, not to build wealth.
Rent and Housing ——————————————–
Medical Bills ———————————————–
School Fees ———————————————-
Family borrowing rates
Married vs Borrowers
Single
Married people make up 91.9% of all the loans we disbursed. Credit is a necessity as they are typically responsible for a larger family.
The communal nature of Nigerian households means married adults serve as financial anchors for an extended family network. Credit becomes necessary in these circumstances, particularly for housing, health, and education.
Higher default risk
15%
Married borrowers
91.9%
of all loans disbursed
Single borrowers
8.1%
of all loans disbursed
Nigeria Consumer Credit Insight, 2025
₦449,178
Average amount borrowed per person
(23.5% YoY Growth)
₦449,178
Average amount borrowed per person
(23.5% YoY Growth)
+23.5%
2024
₦363,736
2025
₦449,178
The average loan value grew by 23.5% from ₦363K to ₦449K in 2025. These loans went directly into the real economy through higher spending on education, healthcare, housing, and small businesses.
INCOME PATTERNS
90% of borrowers earn below ₦200,000/month. Credit bridges the widening gap between wages and the cost of living
THE EARNING GAPS
Salaries fall short of
Living Costs
Low-income borrowers take loan values that are up to 50% of their annual income; a strong reliance on credit for essential expenses, not aspirational purchases.
We discovered borrowers are mostly lower-middle-income formal-sector workers whose salaries cannot cover recurring daily expenses, with 90% earning below N200,000
Borrowers earning above N400k account for just 2% of all borrowers. The pattern shows the wide gap between what Nigerians earn and what it costs to live
90%
earn below N200k/month
2%
earn above N400k — far less reliant on credit
~50%
of annual income — avg loan for lowest earners
Funding Partner
