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- May 10, 2012
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Results from a 2011 survey conducted by U.S. pollster Gallup show that cash still dominates the domestic remittance market in sub-Saharan Africa but that mobile money is on the rise, with Kenya, home of M-Pesa, leading the way
Gallup carried out face-to-face interviews with 1000 adults in each of eleven sub-Saharan countries - Botswana, DR Congo, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.
According to the research, 53% which is the equivalent of 134 million people said that they had paid, or been paid by, a counterparty in a different part of the country within the previous 30 days.
The majority of those sending or receiving money, about 31%, equivalent to 79 million, still only use informal cash, sending it by bus or travelling friends, or simply carrying it themselves.
Fewer people in the region have used only electronic payments such as bank transfers, mobile phone transactions or Western Union-style services. Only nine per cent, roughly 22.7 million, say they made their payments this way. About 13% (33 million) use a combination of electronic and cash while 47% (118.4 million adults) make no payments of any kind.
The survey reveals that two thirds of Kenyans have used their mobile phone to send money to family members or friends living in a different part of the country while in Uganda and Tanzania the figures are 43% and 31% respectively.
Mobile money services are particularly popular with the rural and poor populations. Adults from rural areas and villages who sent domestic remittances 30 days prior to the survey were more likely to have sent this money via mobile phone transfer (28%) than those living in urban areas (13%).
Remittance senders living on less than $2 a day were about as likely to have used mobile phone money transfers as those living on more than $2 a day (21% vs. 23%), the survey says.
More than 55% of adults in the region own a mobile phone and another 22% say they could borrow one, which suggests that other sub-Saharan countries could repeat Kenya's mobile money success which is "a positive sign for millions of African households poised to benefit from affordable money transfers and other financial services in the future," Gallop said in its concluding statement.
Channels used to send domestic remittance in 2011 in the countries surveyed
Results from a 2011 survey conducted by U.S. pollster Gallup show that cash still dominates the domestic remittance market in sub-Saharan Africa but that mobile money is on the rise, with Kenya, home of M-Pesa, leading the way
Gallup carried out face-to-face interviews with 1000 adults in each of eleven sub-Saharan countries - Botswana, DR Congo, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.
According to the research, 53% which is the equivalent of 134 million people said that they had paid, or been paid by, a counterparty in a different part of the country within the previous 30 days.
The majority of those sending or receiving money, about 31%, equivalent to 79 million, still only use informal cash, sending it by bus or travelling friends, or simply carrying it themselves.
Fewer people in the region have used only electronic payments such as bank transfers, mobile phone transactions or Western Union-style services. Only nine per cent, roughly 22.7 million, say they made their payments this way. About 13% (33 million) use a combination of electronic and cash while 47% (118.4 million adults) make no payments of any kind.
The survey reveals that two thirds of Kenyans have used their mobile phone to send money to family members or friends living in a different part of the country while in Uganda and Tanzania the figures are 43% and 31% respectively.
Mobile money services are particularly popular with the rural and poor populations. Adults from rural areas and villages who sent domestic remittances 30 days prior to the survey were more likely to have sent this money via mobile phone transfer (28%) than those living in urban areas (13%).
Remittance senders living on less than $2 a day were about as likely to have used mobile phone money transfers as those living on more than $2 a day (21% vs. 23%), the survey says.
More than 55% of adults in the region own a mobile phone and another 22% say they could borrow one, which suggests that other sub-Saharan countries could repeat Kenya's mobile money success which is "a positive sign for millions of African households poised to benefit from affordable money transfers and other financial services in the future," Gallop said in its concluding statement.
| Mobile phone money transfer | Transfer from bank | Money transfer service | Cash (sent by bus or through someone) | Exclusively brought money in person | |
| KENYA | 66% | 2% | 1% | 5% | 27% |
| UGANDA | 43% | 1% | 0% | 18% | 38% |
| TANZANIA | 32% | 3% | 3% | 16% | 46% |
| ZAMBIA | 4% | 17% | 17% | 33% | 29% |
| BOTSWANA | 3% | 22% | 18% | 13% | 53% |
| NIGERIA | 3% | 29% | 0% | 34% | 34% |
| RWANDA | 2% | 8% | 2% | 60% | 28% |
| SOUTH AFRICA | 2% | 33% | 13% | 17% | 35% |
| SIERRA LEONE | 0% | 6% | 5% | 58% | 29% |
| DR CONGO | 0% | 3% | 24% | 34% | 38% |
