More mobile money, less traditional bank credit for private sector
Comparing Monetary Sector credit to private sector (% GDP) with Mobile cellular subscriptions, per unit of GDP across 174 countries, 2011–2025.
- Rank correlation
- -0.60
- Holding size constant
- -0.45
- Countries compared
- 174
- Period
- 2011–2025
What might link these
The negative correlation suggests that as a country's private sector relies more on mobile money (Indicator A), it tends to rely less on traditional monetary sector credit (Indicator B). This could reflect a shift in financial infrastructure, with mobile solutions displacing conventional banking services.
Why this is not proof of anything
This is a correlation across countries, not an experiment. It cannot show that either indicator causes the other, and both may simply follow a third thing. While statistically controlled, the relationship may be driven by underlying factors of economic development or regulatory environments rather than direct interaction between the indicators.
The second figure above repeats the measurement with national population and income held constant. It is the more conservative number: a relationship that largely disappears there was mostly telling you that larger, richer countries have more of most things.
How this was measured
Both indicators were ranked across every country reporting each, and the two rankings compared — ranks rather than raw values, because a handful of very large countries can otherwise manufacture a relationship on their own. The calculation is arithmetic over figures already published on this site; the commentary above is drafted from the two indicator names and the resulting coefficients.