Mobile Money Metrics

Overview

Welcome to GSMA Mobile Money Metrics

Mobile Money Metrics is an interactive tool that provides a comprehensive set of global metrics by combining unique data sources that the GSMA Mobile Money programme has been collecting and analysing since its inception. Mobile Money Metrics is designed to support the efforts of mobile money providers and the wider international development community to deliver on the ambition of achieving greater financial inclusion, financial empowerment and economic growth.

Mobile money industry data

Mobile Money Metrics employs a wide range of data sources that the programme has been collecting and analysing since 2009, including:

  • Global Metrics

    This dashboard allows users to explore the growth of the mobile money industry through a comprehensive set of global metrics on accounts, agents, and usage. The data is based on primary and secondary research including the GSMA’s annual Global Adoption Survey and in-house country modelling.

  • The Mobile Money Prevalence Index (MMPI)

    The Mobile Money Prevalence Index is a composite index that considers mobile money adoption, activity and accessibility at country level in order to facilitate comparisons between markets. The purpose of the index is to enable third parties to gauge whether engagement would lead to expected impact. The index is meant to support decision making for public, private and NGO stakeholders alike.

  • The Mobile Money Deployment Tracker

    The Mobile Money Deployment Tracker monitors the number of live mobile money services globally, collated using both primary and secondary sources on a monthly basis. Use the interactive map to locate mobile money deployments across the globe.

  • The Mobile Money Regulatory Index

    The Mobile Money Regulatory Index scores countries based on the extent to which their regulatory framework enables widespread mobile money adoption. Scores range between 0-100, with a higher score associated with more enabling regulation. For more information and to download the annual report click here.

Reporting cycle

Mobile Money Metrics will be updated on an annual basis according to the results of Annual Global Adoption Survey and Mobile Money Estimates and Forecasts. The Mobile Money Deployment Tracker will be updated on a monthly basis.

Throughout Mobile Money Metrics, data is presented either in a quarterly or monthly basis depending on the metric:

  1. Quarterly: Live services, registered accounts, agents and agent outlets.
  2. Monthly: Active accounts (30 day), active agents, volume and value of P2P transfer, international remittance, bill payment, merchant payment, airtime top-up, bulk disbursement, cash-in, and cash-out.

Mobile money service definitions

The GSMA Mobile Money programme considers services that meet the following definitions a mobile money service:

  • A mobile money service includes transferring money and making and receiving payments using the mobile phone
  • The service must be available to the unbanked, e.g. people who do not have access to a formal account at a financial institution
  • The service must offer a network of physical transactional points which can include agents, outside of bank branches and ATMs, that make the service widely accessible to everyone. The agent network must be larger than the service’s formal outlets
  • Mobile banking that offers the mobile phone as just another channel to access a traditional banking product are not included
  • Payment services linked to a traditional banking product or credit card, such as Apple Pay Google Pay and Samsung Pay, are not included

Metric definitions

  1. Live Services The cumulative number of live mobile money services that meet the definition set by the GSMA Mobile Money programme.
  2. Registered accounts The cumulative number of customer accounts at the end of December for the year indicated. Customers who are not registered but perform transactions over the counter (OTC) are not included. Some mobile money services are being offered primarily over-the- counter (OTC). In such cases, a mobile money agent performs the transactions on behalf of the customer, who does not need to have a mobile money account to use the service.
  3. Active accounts The number of customer accounts that have been used to perform at least one person-to-person payment, bill payment, bulk payment, merchant payment, airtime top-up, cash-in to account, cash-out from account, mobile money-to- bank account transfer, or used to send or receive international remittances during at least 90 days or 30 days prior to end of December for the year indicated. Balance inquiries, PIN resets, and other transactions that do not involve the movement of value do not qualify a customer account as active.
  4. Registered agents The cumulative number of registered agents providing cash-in and cash-out services that have been registered at the end of December for the year indicated.
  5. Active agents Active agents are agents that have facilitated at least one transaction within the past 30 days of December at the end of the indicated year.
  6. Person-to-Person (P2P) transfer Domestic transfers that are made between two customer accounts including OTC transactions, off-net/cross- net transfers, bank account-to- mobile money account transfers, and mobile money-to- bank account transfers.
  7. International remittance Cross-border fund transfers that are made from one person to another person. This transaction can be a direct mobile money remittance, or can be completed using an intermediary organisation, such as Western Union.
  8. Bill payment A payment made by a person from either their mobile money account or over-the-counter to a biller or billing organisation via a mobile money platform in exchange for services provided.
  9. Merchant payment A payment made from a mobile money account via a mobile money platform to a retail or online merchant in exchange for goods or services.
  10. Airtime top-up Purchase of airtime via mobile money, funded from a mobile money account.
  11. Bulk disbursement A payment made by an organisation via a mobile money platform to a person’s mobile money account. For example, salary payments made by an organisation to an employee’s mobile money account, payments made by a government to a recipient’s mobile money account or payments made by development organisations to a recipient’s mobile money account.
  12. Cash-in The process by which a customer credits their mobile money account with cash. This is usually via an agent who takes the cash and credits the customer’s mobile money account with the same amount of e-money.
  13. Cash-out The process by which a customer deducts cash from their mobile money account. This is usually via an agent who gives the customer cash in exchange for a transfer of e-money from the customer’s mobile money account.

Contact

We welcome any feedback on Mobile Money Metrics. If you would like to provide feedback or if you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Other GSMA resources

State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money

Learn more about the GSMA Mobile Money programme

Learn more about GSMA Mobile for Development

The Mobile Money programme is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Global metrics

Our interactive dashboard is currently being re-designed.
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You can also download our State of the Industry Report here.

Glossary Download dataset Download insights

Prevalence index

2020
2021
2022
2023
≥ 0.80 Very high
0.79 - 0.60 High
0.59 - 0.40 Medium
0.39 - 0.20 Low
≤ 0.19 Very low
N/A
Read white paper Download Tables

The Mobile Money Prevalence Index is a composite index that considers mobile money adoption, activity and accessibility at country level in order to facilitate comparisons between markets. The index is meant to support decision making for public, private and NGO stakeholders.

Deployment tracker

1 service
2 services
3 services
4 services
5 or more services
Download Dataset

Regulatory index

2018
2019
2020
2021