The Global Findex Database 2025: Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy

In most low- and middle-income economies, Global Findex data were collected through face-to-face interviews. In these economies, an area frame design was used for interviewing. In most high-income economies, telephone surveys were used. In 2024, face-to-face interviews were again conducted in 22 economies after phone-based surveys had been employed in 2021 as a result of mobility restrictions related to COVID-19. In addition, an abridged form of the questionnaire was administered by phone to survey participants in Algeria, China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Libya, Mauritius, and Ukraine because of economy-specific restrictions. In just one economy, Singapore, did the interviewing mode change from face to face in 2021 to phone based in 2024.

In economies in which face-to-face surveys were conducted, the first stage of sampling was the identification of primary sampling units. These units were then stratified by population size, geography, or both and clustered through one or more stages of sampling. Where population information was available, sample selection was based on probabilities proportional to population size; otherwise, simple random sampling was used. Random route procedures were used to select sampled households. Unless an outright refusal occurred, interviewers made up to three attempts to survey each sampled household. To increase the probability of contact and completion, attempts were made at different times of the day and, where possible, on different days. If an interview could not be completed at a household that was initially part of the sample, a simple substitution method was used to select a replacement household for inclusion.

Respondents were randomly selected within sampled households. Each eligible household member (that is, all those ages 15 or older) was listed, and a handheld survey device randomly selected the household member to be interviewed. For paper surveys, the Kish grid method was used to select the respondent. In economies in which cultural restrictions dictated gender matching, respondents were randomly selected from among all eligible adults of the interviewer’s gender.

In economies in which Global Findex surveys have traditionally been phone based, respondent selection followed the same procedure as in previous years, using random digit dialing or a nationally representative list of phone numbers. In most economies in which mobile phone and landline penetration is high, a dual sampling frame was used.

The same procedure for respondent selection was applied to economies in which phone-based interviews were being conducted for the first time. Dual-frame (landline and mobile phone) random digit dialing was used where landline presence and use are 20 percent or higher based on historical Gallup estimates. Mobile phone random digit dialing was used in economies with limited or no landline presence (less than 20 percent).
For landline respondents in economies in which mobile phone or landline penetration is 80 percent or higher, respondents were selected randomly by using either the next-birthday method or the household enumeration method, which involves listing all eligible household members and randomly selecting one to participate. For mobile phone respondents in these economies or in economies in which mobile phone or landline penetration is less than 80 percent, no further selection was performed. At least three attempts were made to reach the randomly selected person in each household, spread over different days and times of day.