The Scale of Debt: Estimating Everyday Household Indebtedness Worldwide

L'ampleur de la dette: Estimation de l'endettement quotidien des ménages dans le monde

Arnaud Natal () and Isabelle Guérin ()
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Arnaud Natal: IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, BSE - Bordeaux Sciences Economiques - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UB - Université de Bordeaux
Isabelle Guérin: CESSMA UMRD 245 - Centre d'études en sciences sociales sur les mondes africains, américains et asiatiques - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Inalco - Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7, IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IRD [Ile-de-France] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement

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Abstract: This brief provides a first global estimate of everyday indebtedness. It suggests that at least 33% of the world's population relies on borrowing to meet basic needs – a figure that is likely underestimated. This widespread reliance on debt reflects structural gaps in incomes, labour markets, and social protection systems. Addressing everyday indebtedness requires expanding social protection, stabilising incomes, treating debt as a systemic issue rather than an individual failing, and improving data on informal, unsecured, and non-asset-building forms of borrowing.

Keywords: Household finance; Social protection; Poverty; Debt; Dette; Pauvreté; Protection sociale; Finance des ménages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05500846v1
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Published in ODRIIS Policy Brief No. 5, 2026, pp.1-5

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