Financial Inclusion in North America

For the purposes of regional data analysis, the World Bank classification of North America includes only two countries: United States and Canada. According to the Global Findex Database 2025, these two countries have near universal account ownership among adults, at 98% in Canada and 97% in the United States. 

While financial inclusion in this region is among the highest in the world, significant disparities in access and financial resilience persist for low-income and marginalized groups including people of color, indigenous communities, immigrants and refugees, people with disabilities and those who live in rural areas. In Canada, for example, indigenous people in First Nation communities have been estimated to have double the unbanked rate of non-indigenous people, driven by a lack of financial infrastructure in these communities and historical distrust of colonizing institutions. In the United States, unbanked rates for Black, Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native households were over five times higher than that of white households in 2023.

In addition, financial health is declining as fewer people have emergency savings and household debt has risen. Less than half of adults in the United States (46%) have enough emergency savings to cover expenses for three months, and nearly a quarter (24%) have no emergency savings at all. At the same time, about a third of adults in the United States have more credit card debt than emergency savings. Canada faces a similar scenario; almost half of Canadians (48%) did not have emergency savings to cover expenses for three months, and a third (34%) reported having to borrow to cover regular expenses in 2024. 

These figures illustrate the need for targeted policy interventions for specific communities, as well as a general focus on improving financial health and resilience, even in countries with high levels of financial account access.