Indians are Among Least Financially Literate: Global Survey

A global survey by credit card firm Visa shows that Indians are among the least financially literate people across the world with most youngsters and women struggling with their personal finance due to the lack of discussions on money management within their families.

The survey shows that India ranked 23rd among 28 global countries surveyed, with only 35% of India’s population termed financially literate. The survey conducted among over 25,000 people in 28 countries across the world. As per the ‘Global Financial Literacy Barometer’, Brazil topped the ranking with 50.4% of its population financially literate. The other countries Mexico, Australia, United States and Canada stood in top 5 list. The top 5 markets that are financially literate in Asia Pacific region are Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia.

It showed that Indian families will not discuss with their children frequently and they talk to their children about money management only some 10 days in a year compared with the global average of 19 days a year. The survey says teenagers and young adults are prepared to manage their finances. But it showed that 41% of the teenagers and young adults between 18 and 24 years don’t have a habit of saving emergency fund. 43% of the women and 20% of the men in India said that they don’t understand personal finance/money management issues.

The average savings set aside by Indians for an emergency is found to 1.9 months which is close to the survey average of 2 months, whereas the emergency cash savings of the countries who are leading in the barometer are China with 3.9 months, Taiwan with 3.7 months, Hong kong with 3.5 months, Japan with 3.3 months.