World Bank: Half of Kazakhstanis Save Money – Best Result in Central Asia

The World Bank's Global Findex 2025 report states that Kazakhstan is one of the leaders in the penetration of financial services and digital payments. At the same time, only 53% of the country's population has savings, while 63% borrow money. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Finprom.kz analyzed data on the financial and digital inclusion of the population from the World Bank's Global Findex 2025 report for Central Asian countries. The report states that Kazakhstan is one of the leaders in the use of financial instruments not only in the region but also globally. Thus, 87% of Kazakhstan's adult population has financial accounts. In Kyrgyzstan, 72.3% have them, and in Uzbekistan – 59.7%.

Accounts with online transaction capabilities are used by 85% of Kazakhstanis, 67.5% of Kyrgyzstan residents, and 49.9% of Uzbekistan's population. At the same time, 70.1% of the population in Kazakhstan pays for goods and services online, in Kyrgyzstan – 43.4%, in Uzbekistan – 38.1%. 51% of Kazakhstanis pay their accounts online. Over the past 15 years, the share of the population with financial accounts in Kazakhstan has grown from 42.1% to 87%.

The Global Findex 2025 report also includes some indicators that indirectly reflect the well-being of residents in the countries covered by the study. Thus, 53% of Kazakhstanis save money, which is higher than in all other countries of the region. Only 37.7% of Kazakhstan's population keeps savings in bank accounts. For comparison, in Uzbekistan only 9.2% of the population has them.

At the same time, 62.8% of Kazakhstanis borrow money. Among residents of Central Asian countries, only Kyrgyzstan residents borrow more – 62.9%. This refers to all types of loans, including from relatives and friends. At the same time, formal loans are taken by 32.8% of Kazakhstan's population, 18% of Kyrgyzstan citizens, 17.1% of Kyrgyzstan residents, and 11.8% of Uzbekistan's population.

It was previously reported that the debt of individuals on loans in Kazakhstan by the end of 2025 reached $49.29 billion. By this indicator, the country firmly holds second place in the EAEU, yielding only to Russia.