Financial Inclusion in Tunisia: What the Findex Data Says

Financial inclusion in Tunisia has barely moved in a decade. According to the World Bank's Global Findex 2025, only 37.8% of Tunisian adults had an account in 2024, almost unchanged since 2017 and well below Morocco, Egypt and the global average. Behind that headline sit wide gaps by gender, age and income, and an economy that still runs largely on cash.

What the Findex data says about financial inclusion in Tunisia

The Global Findex survey is the standard international measure of who has an account at a bank, another financial institution or a mobile money provider. Tunisia's results across four rounds:

• 2014: 27.4% of adults had an account
• 2017: 36.9%
• 2021: 36.9%
• 2024: 37.8%

The jump between 2014 and 2017 was followed by seven years of near stagnation. Over the same period, Egypt rose from 14.1% (2014) to 43.1% (2024), while Morocco stood at 44.4% in 2024. Algeria, at 35.3%, is the only North African peer below Tunisia. Worldwide, 78.7% of adults now have an account, and the average for low- and middle-income economies is 75.4%.

Who is left out

The averages hide steep differences between groups. In the 2024 Findex data for Tunisia:

• Women: 26.6% have an account, against 49.6% of men. The gap widened from about 16 points in 2021 to 23 points in 2024. We look at this in detail in women and access to finance.
• Young adults: only 11.7% of 15–24-year-olds have an account, down from 24.3% in 2021. Among adults aged 25 and over, the figure is 45.5%.
• Lower-income households: 21.7% of adults in the poorest 40% of households have an account, down from 32.0% in 2021.

These declines for young and poorer adults are large. Findex results are based on a survey sample, so year-to-year changes for sub-groups should be read with some caution, but the direction is clear: the gains of recent years have not reached the people who most need them.

The role of La Poste and microfinance

Tunisia's inclusion story is not only about banks. La Poste Tunisienne reported 4.713 million savers at the end of September 2026, which it says represents about a quarter of national savings. Its e-Dinar card and D17 mobile app are often the first financial product for students and low-income households (see La Poste's e-Dinar and D17).

Microfinance is the other main channel. According to the microfinance regulator ACM, more than 800,000 people had a microloan in 2024. Credit is expensive, however: the average effective rate reached 25.7% at the end of 2024. Our microfinance explainer covers the sector in depth.

Cash still dominates daily life

Account ownership is only half the picture. Usage matters too, and here cash remains king. A 2026 study by the Observatoire de l'inclusion financière (OIF) and UNDP, conducted in seven interior and southern governorates, found that 98% of women surveyed preferred cash and 55% of working women were still paid in cash. Among young people surveyed, 99% used cash and only 8% held an e-wallet. The study notes its samples are not nationally representative.

Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) data shows the same pattern at national level. In the first half of 2025, 62% of bank card transactions were cash withdrawals rather than payments. Banknotes and coins in circulation also kept rising through 2025 and 2026. We explore why in Tunisia's cash economy.

Digital payments are growing from a low base

There are signs of progress. According to the BCT's payments bulletin for the first quarter of 2026:

• online card payments reached 5.2 million transactions, up 28.4% year on year;
• mobile payment wallets counted 477,000 active users, up 22.2%;
• 17 payment service providers were licensed, up 34.5% on a year earlier.

But 477,000 active wallets remains small next to the millions of Tunisian adults without an account. The same bulletin shows cash-out operations from wallets growing faster than payments, a sign that many users still convert digital money back into cash. See our overview of mobile payments in Tunisia.

Cost and trust are barriers

The OIF/UNDP study points to several obstacles beyond geography:

• Cost. A 2024 BCT circular temporarily capped account fees at TND 36 per year (down from TND 68) for clients earning under TND 1,500 a month, and made bank cards free for a year.
• Price of credit. Microfinance loans averaged 31% in the study's data, against 9.5% for bank loans.
• Trust. 46% of young people surveyed did not trust digital services to manage their money, and 22% of women distrusted microfinance institutions.
• Distance. Only 32% of rural women surveyed could reach a financial institution within 15 minutes, against 54% of urban women.

Why it matters for fintech founders

For Tunisian fintechs, the Findex numbers describe both the problem and the opportunity. More than six in ten adults have no account, and most of them are women, young people and lower-income households. Products that win here will likely be cheap or free, work with cash at the edges (agents, cash-in and cash-out points), and earn trust through simple design and clear pricing.

The regulatory side matters too. Payment institution licences and the BCT sandbox have opened the door to non-bank players (see payment institutions in Tunisia). Whether they can move the needle will show up in the next Findex round.