The World’s Unbanked: Visualizing the Data
Part 2 of the Speak Out Series: Illustrating the Case for Mobile Money Accounts
∘ Overview of my data visualization
· The process
∘ Finding the data
∘ Designing the skeleton
∘ Creating illustrations with Adobe Illustrator
∘ The final product
∘ Analysis
∘ Benefits of digitizing payments for the unbankedOverview of my data visualization
We’ll be picking up from where we left in Part 1, where we discussed how in today’s world, we still have around 1.7 billion unbanked adults and how traditional banking has ignored this segment.
So I decided to visualize this data to see where these unbanked are located. The latest data available with this information is from the 2017 Global Findex report. I wanted to see the top 20 countries with the highest number of unbanked adults and also map these countries on the basis of their total population, GDP, geographical location, and income level. It was interesting to discover that the unbanked are not limited to a certain geographical region or an income group. The list also includes stronger economies like the USA, China, and Russia.
The process
Finding the data
For the dataset, I downloaded the Global Findex database specific to The unbanked (Chapter 2) and Opportunities for expanding financial inclusion through digital technology (Chapter 6) of the report. I imported this data on Google Sheets and sorted it in descending order to identify the top 20 countries with the highest number of unbanked adults. The available data is from the year 2017.
I then visited the World Bank Open Data and downloaded 2017 data for GDP (Current USD $) and total population for the selected countries. For mapping these countries based on their geographical region and income group, I used the World Bank’s classification.
Designing the skeleton
I then ordered the countries based on GDP and population and designed the skeleton on RAWGraphs.
Creating illustrations with Adobe Illustrator
I then imported this skeleton on Adobe Illustrator to start building my visualization and for drawing illustrations to present details. The theme I chose was greenery as it represents growth and this further grew into something similar to a forest. I wanted my chart to look esthetically pleasing as well as informative. Because in my line of work, I have noticed that many people simply flinch or ignore looking at complex data as it looks complex and unappealing.
Since the data for the unbanked was in millions, I wanted to divide it into tiny segments for simple visualization. I drew lines as pine leaves and assigned up to 10 million unbanked adults to each line. I also wanted to highlight the top 7 countries with the highest number of unbanked adults, so I changed the green pine leaves’ color to show the severity. The circle represents the unbanked owning mobile phones. And to give exact numbers, I also presented this information as numbers.
I also wanted to provide information about the country’s geographical region and income group. I decided to present this via symbols and gridlines instead of adding more text and avoiding clutter.
Further details about the legend can be seen below:
Here is a close-up:
The final product
Below is the complete chart and can also be seen in detail here
Analysis
The purpose of this visualization is to show that unbanked adults are dispersed globally and can be found in economies with varying GDP and income levels. The purpose is to also highlight unbanked adults who own a mobile phone. This, according to the Global Findex report, can be seen as an opportunity to expand financial inclusion through digital technology. Fintech companies and FSPs can leverage new products and services for this often ignored consumer segment.
Benefits of digitizing payments for the unbanked
The following are some of the benefits of digitizing payments as per the report:
~ Improve efficiency by increasing the speed of payments and reducing the cost of disbursing and receiving them.
~ Enhance the security of payments and thus lower the incidence of associated crime.
~ Disbursing payments through digital channels rather than cash has been shown to increase transparency and reduce corruption.
~ By providing an important first entry point into the formal financial system, shifting to digital payments can lead to substantial increases in saving as well as the substitution of formal for informal savings.
For businesses and governments alike, however, the challenge is to ensure that digital payments are indeed better than the cash-based alternatives — safer, more affordable, and more transparent.
In the next part of the series, let's explore popular fintech products and services like mobile wallets and the Buy Now pay Later (BNPL) and see how they have the potential to improve the financial health of the underprivileged.
Note: I have drawn my inspiration from the work of Federica Fragapane. While working to improve my data visualization and information design skills, I took her course and am deeply inspired by her work.
