Financial Literacy and Capability Deep Dive in Ethiopia

This infographic, "Financial Literacy & Capability Deep Dive in Ethiopia," was developed by Shega under the AKOFADA project in coordination with UNCDF Ethiopia. It draws on a UNCDF (2025) survey assessing Ethiopians' financial knowledge, attitudes, digital safety, and money-management behaviours. The key takeaways: Ethiopians grasp the basics, with 92% understanding inflation and about three-quarters grasping risk-return (76%) and business borrowing (75%). Understanding thins out on financial products, where 58% recognise what share ownership means, 48% compound interest, and just 39% inflation logic, the only item on which more answered incorrectly than correctly. Attitudes are broadly prudent (86% prefer saving over spending), yet rising trust in financial service providers sits alongside growing anxiety about scams and fraud. Digital safety is the weakest area: among internet users, two-thirds lock their devices, but only 32% know how to block a lost or stolen phone, nearly half reuse passwords, and over half lack virus protection. On money management, 66% plan a budget and 42% keep records, but only 12% hold insurance against financial shocks, with a further 5.5% unable to say whether they were insured at all, pointing to record-keeping and insurance as the clearest gaps.