FinScope Tanzania is a comprehensive financial sector demand-side survey of

Tanzanian adults aged 16 years and above. It provides an understanding of the

financial services uptake landscape across the country and is a reliable measure

2023
for demand and usage of financial services across various population segments.
Further, FinScope Tanzania’s insights clearly present barriers and levers to financial
inclusion. The survey oversight is a a public-private sector collaboration - spearheaded
by the Ministry of Finance and Planning Tanzania and Zanzibar and Bank of Tanzania,
the Financial Sector Deepening Tanzania (FSDT), National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS) and the Office of Chief Government Statistician Zanzibar (OCGS).

FinScope Tanzania 2023 is the fifth wave in the FinScope Tanzania series with
previous waves in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017. The full FinScope Tanzania 2023
Report and a dashboard are available under www.fsdt.or.tz/finscope

The state of financial inclusion

and key developments
Formal Financial Inclusion has
grown from
Financial inclusion has made big strides in
Tanzania. Since 2017, the number of adults 65% to 76%
excluded financially has fallen to 6.4 million in
2023 from 7.8 million. This reduction in those
2023 22.2% 53.5% 5.7% 18.7%
excluded is even more significant because the
adult population has grown 23% over the same
2017 16.7% 48.6% 6.7% 28.0%
period. A rise in mobile money and banking has
fueled the rise in financial inclusion. 2013 14% 43% 16% 27%

2009 9% 7% 29% 55%

Uptake of Formal Financial Services
Have or uptake bank services Dont have or uptake bank services but
have or uptake other formal services
Mobile money 72%
services 60%
Dont have or uptake formal Financially excluded
services but uptake informal
services
Commercial 22%
bank services 17%
Addressability challenges continue to cause their exclusion. Perception issues also
CMG (prev 12% play a role with people still thinking that they need more money to open a bank account
Informal 16% and that they will attract bad things if they take up insurance. Further, more seasonal
Savings group) or occasional income sources create a lack of financial stability.
Insurance 10% Addressability: Proximity, NIN and phones
services 15% Base = National

Living within 5km proximity

Pension 4% 86% 89% Addressability barriers
of access point*
services 4% decline, but remain a
National ID number (NIN)* 10% 57%
challenge for certain
MFI/ segments
8% Owns a mobile phone 63% 75%
microlender 7%
services
The national identification number (NIN) roll-out shows a significant increase, although
1% many, younger Tanzanians, are still to receive NINs. There is also an increase in mobile
SACCOS 2%
phone ownership but younger Tanzanians and women lag when it comes to mobile phone
ownership.
Capital 0.50%
markets 0.01% 2023 2017 *base Tanzanians 18 years and older
 Barriers and
Considerable progress is still needed to get Tanzanians to formally transact and use financial
Next Frontiers services for development.

How is personal revenue generated and how frequently is money received from
these sources?*
Money from trading of Tanzanians’ main
44% Seasonally Only
(including farmers) income sources
Piece work/Casual labor/
Occasional jobs
35% Occasionally
13% tend to be paid
frequently
Rely on someone else/others to
15% Occasionally
give/ send me money The current challenges are partly due to the way people earn
*only top three presented and the irregularity of many of the dominant income sources.
Financial sector products need better meet these realities.

There is a gap converting trial into the regular use of digital payments How do they make payments?
mechanism for purchasing goods. Although Tanzanians have tried to use 98%
lipa number services, their usage is yet to become regular. Groceries 1%
1%
0%
These payments are the next frontier to achieve increased benefits 87%
Buy 1%
from the use of formal financial services, establish reliable transaction
airtime 12%
histories, and to increase overall financial sector security. 0%

Merchant payment channels Cash Bank Phone Other

Moving from cash to used to purchase goods, all adults
formal payments
is a key Lipa namba 3% 13%
RW F

A large majority of
challenge POS 1% Tanzanians borrow
or save to survive
Past month Ever
Saving and borrowing are focused on cashflow
management. The challenge is to increase
The Tanzanian Insurance sector, from a supply side perspective saw an 82% increase
of its total Gross Premiums Written (GPW) between 2017 to 2023 (1,159,348 Million
the number of Tanzanians using finance for
TZS). FinScope Tanzania, being a demand side household survey, measures insurance developmental objectives. This would also
uptake in terms of people reporting that they have insurance cover, hence awareness increase customers’ satisfaction with product
is key, from a demand side perspective a decline in people reporting to be covered has
been observed since 2017. usage.

Interestingly, alternative risk mitigation mechanisms such as CMGs also indicate a need Saving or borrowing in 2023
for covers beyond health, such as funeral costs.
Saved
47% 36%
4.2 Borrowed
Tanzanians with 3.5 2017
insurance (in millions) 2023 Main reason for saving & borrowing
Smoothing 84%
CMG member (12% of Tanzanian adults) cashflow 72%
claimed group risk management activities Productive 8%
21%
investment
What emergency activities use CMG Saving
7%
members their CMG for? Asset-building 6% Borrowing
Emergency funds 73%
Gave funeral contributions 49% Core Implementing Partners:
Gave medical contributions 31%
Gave wedding contributions 25%
Borrow without interest 15%
Received money for medical costs 13% Minist
ry of
Finance

Received money for funeral costs 12% Past Year

Insurance 2% Ever