Nigeria’s formal financial inclusion rate climbed to 73 per cent in 2026, exceeding the 70 per cent goal set under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy. Despite the milestone, only 30.7 per cent of formally included adults are considered financially healthy, leaving roughly 60.4 million people still vulnerable or merely coping.
The findings come from the 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria survey conducted by Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access and weighted by the National Bureau of Statistics. Researchers interviewed 18,679 adults across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory between April and June 2026, achieving 98 per cent of the planned sample size.
Access Expands Faster Than Financial Health
Overall financial inclusion covering both formal and informal channels rose to 79 per cent in 2026 from 74 per cent in 2023 and 68 per cent in 2020. Formal inclusion reached 73 per cent, or about 87.2 million adults, up from 64 per cent in 2023 and 56 per cent in 2020. Total inclusion now covers approximately 94.2 million adults.
Digital financial services grew even more rapidly, rising from 45 per cent in 2023 to 64.4 per cent in 2026 equivalent to roughly 77 million adults.
Yet the gains in access have not been matched by improvements in resilience. Only about 25 per cent of all Nigerian adults are financially healthy, creating a 48-percentage-point gap between formal inclusion and financial health. Just 10.6 per cent of formally included adults can raise N156,000 within seven days without difficulty, compared with 3.7 per cent of those outside formal systems. The report characterises the situation as “participation without progress.”
Shift Toward Coping Credit
Formal credit use increased to about 10 per cent of adults (11.9 million people) from 6 per cent in 2023, though it remains well below the 40 per cent National Financial Inclusion Strategy target.
The purpose of borrowing has shifted noticeably. Coping and consumption now account for 40.8 per cent of formal credit use, up from 31.7 per cent in 2023. Productive enterprise borrowing fell from 40.2 per cent to 34.3 per cent, while borrowing for household assets declined from 25.2 per cent to 23.4 per cent. In 2023 productive borrowing exceeded coping credit by 8.5 percentage points; by 2026 the positions had reversed, with coping leading by 6.5 points a swing of roughly 15 percentage points.
Formal credit use among informally employed adults rose from 5 per cent to 15 per cent, while usage among those aged 18 to 35 doubled from 4 per cent to 10 per cent. Nearly half of formal-credit users (45.8 per cent) reported some or serious difficulty with repayment, and 83.8 per cent experienced ongoing financial stress.
Insurance and Regional Gaps Persist
Insurance and pension coverage lag far behind banking and payments. Formal insurance penetration stands at only 5.2 per cent (about 6.2 million adults), while pension participation covers roughly 9 per cent of adults. About 93 per cent of formally included adults roughly 81 million people remain uninsured. Among those who do hold insurance, 59.9 per cent are classified as financially healthy.
Geographic and demographic disparities remain wide. The urban-rural formal-inclusion gap widened from 24 to 27 percentage points, with urban inclusion at 85 per cent against 58 per cent in rural areas. Formal inclusion reached 96.4 per cent in the South West but only 61.4 per cent in the North East and 62.7 per cent in the North West. Digital financial services are used by 78 per cent of urban adults compared with 47 per cent of rural adults, and by 70.5 per cent of men versus 58 per cent of women.
Trust continues to influence sustained usage: 96.9 per cent of consumers who trust their provider had used the service in the previous 90 days, compared with 65.6 per cent of those who distrust their provider.
Implications for Policy and Lenders
The survey shows that Nigeria has made stronger progress in expanding account ownership, payments and digital services than in building products that enhance long-term financial security. Approximately 60.4 million formally included adults remain financially vulnerable or coping. Coping and consumption now dominate formal borrowing purposes at 40.8 per cent, ahead of productive enterprise activity at 34.3 per cent.
The report identifies fraud control, service reliability, transparent pricing, data protection and effective complaint handling as essential for turning access into meaningful inclusion. Related market data point to a more selective credit environment, with consumer credit outstanding having declined and digital lenders increasingly favouring borrowers with verifiable income and established credit histories.
Analysts note that simply increasing the volume of credit is not enough. For financial inclusion to support economic resilience, a greater share of borrowing needs to finance income-generating activity rather than short-term coping needs.
