Who Gains from Digital Finance? Micro-Evidence on Account Ownership in Uzbekistan and Central Asia, 2021–2024 (American Journal of Economics and Business Management)

Summary

• Adult account ownership in Uzbekistan rose from 44.1% in 2021 to 59.7% in 2024.p.1
• In 2024, tertiary education increased the probability of account ownership in Uzbekistan by 41.8 percentage points compared to primary education or less.p.3
• The raw gender gap in account ownership in Uzbekistan shifted from −11.0 points in 2021 to +1.9 points in 2024.p.1
• Only 20% of the 15.9-point increase in Uzbek account ownership between 2021 and 2024 is explained by changes in population characteristics.p.4
• Among Uzbek account owners in 2024, only 15.0% saved formally and 17.6% borrowed formally.p.4
• The proportion of unbanked Uzbek adults citing insufficient money as a barrier declined from 51.3% in 2021 to 22.3% in 2024.p.5

Key insights

1. Education is the primary determinant of account ownership in Uzbekistan, with tertiary education providing a 41.8 percentage point increase in ownership probability.p.3
2. Household income quintiles have no statistically significant effect on account ownership in Uzbekistan once education and employment are controlled for.p.3
3. Women in Uzbekistan experienced a positive relative shift in account ownership probability, gaining an adjusted 14.4 percentage points relative to men between 2021 and 2024.p.3
4. Four-fifths of the 2021–2024 growth in account ownership in Uzbekistan occurred within demographic groups of identical characteristics.p.5
5. Observable demographic characteristics account for only 28% of the 27.3 percentage point account ownership gap between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in 2024.p.4
6. The ownership gap between young adults aged 15–24 and adults aged 25+ in Uzbekistan widened from 25.2 to 31.6 percentage points between 2021 and 2024.p.4
7. In 2024, 11.6% of Uzbek women received a government transfer into an account compared to 4.7% of men.p.5