The world’s media has shown that, as SA consumers face price hikes in electricity, fuel and groceries, people are increasingly borrowing money to make ends meet.
According to the Global Findex database from the World Bank, South Africans were the biggest borrowers in the world in 2014.
This survey of 140 countries revealed that 86% of South Africans took out a loan in 2014. The database showed that most (71.2%) borrowed from friends and family, and only 18.4% from micro-lenders and 12% from formal financial institutions.
In global terms the average number of borrowers was 40%.
The only other countries coming close to SA's amount of borrowing were Zimbabwe (62%), Kenya (79%), Botswana (69%), Niger (71%) and Iran (80%).
South Africans are world’s biggest borrowers
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