High banking costs and the inability to maintain savings remain the biggest barriers preventing thousands of Namibians from accessing formal financial services, even as financial inclusion has reached a record 86%.
The latest Namibia Financial Inclusion Survey (NFIS) 2025 shows that 43.2% of adults without bank accounts cited insufficient funds to maintain savings as the main reason for remaining unbanked, highlighting affordability as the biggest obstacle to expanding financial access.
Although 86.0% of Namibia’s adult population, equivalent to 1.56 million people, are now financially included, up from 78.0% in 2017, significant disparities remain between urban and rural communities.
Formal financial inclusion increased to 81.5%, with 75.6% of adults holding commercial bank accounts and 71.3% using other formal non-bank financial institutions.
The survey found that Namibians choose financial institutions largely based on recommendations from family, friends and communities (48.4%), while 37.7% said low fees and charges influence their choice of financial service provider.
Access to banking infrastructure also remains uneven. While 40.1% of urban residents can reach a bank within 30 minutes, only 5.7% of rural residents enjoy the same level of access. In contrast, 28.3% of rural residents travel more than three hours to reach a bank, compared with just 1.6% of urban residents.
The survey shows that women continue to lead financial inclusion, with 87.6% of females financially included compared with 84.2% of males, although the gender gap has narrowed since 2017.
Savings remain central to household financial management, with 72.5% of adults reporting that they save in some form.
However, the use of formal savings products declined from 60.0% in 2017 to 53.2% in 2025, while informal savings increased slightly from 2.9% to 3.5%.
Borrowing has become more common, rising from 42.1% in 2017 to 49.0% in 2025, with most loans used to cover essential household expenses such as food (51.3%), education (22.1%) and transport (16.4%).
Insurance coverage remains low, with only 32.7% of adults covered by either formal or informal insurance, leaving a majority of households exposed to financial shocks.
Money transfers remain widespread, with 61.6% of adults using formal or informal remittance channels, of which 58.5% relied on formal services. Most remittances (94.1%) were sent within Namibia.
Despite the progress, 14.0% of adults remain financially excluded, down from 22.0% in 2017, with exclusion highest in rural areas at 20.7%, compared with 8.3% in urban centres.
The survey also found that many households continue to face financial pressure. While the proportion of adults struggling to meet financial commitments fell to 63.0% from 68.5% in 2017, only 25.4% said they were often able to make their income last until their next payday.
Food remains the largest household expense, with 90.1% of adults identifying it as their primary spending category, while awareness of investment products remains limited. Only 6.4% of adults were aware of unit trusts and 5.6% knew about bonds and other investment products.
