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About microfinance

Microfinance is the provision of financial services to those living in poverty. These people have no access to the services offered by traditional financial institutions as they are typically deemed 'too risky', subject to discrimination or are geographically isolated.

Micro-finance provides an effective, equitable way of creating the conditions for longlasting development. By helping the poor become self-sufficient, micro-finance is fostering conditions for peace and human fulfillment, and globally is becoming a key step in breaking the 'poverty trap'.

Facts and Figures in 2005 :

1.2 billion people worldwide live on less than one dollar/day adjusted to purchasing power parity (PPP)
An additional 1.8 billion other people live below the poverty line of 2 dollars. 80% of the world's population does not have access to credit; 500-600 million of these people would be eligible for microcredit.

The aim of the Microcredit Summit Campaign in 1997 was to "provide, by 2005, the poorest 100 million families with access to credit and other financial services and enterprise development assistance".

Over 70 million people are now assisted by over 10,000 microfinance institutions.
54.8 million of these people are amongst the poorest populations. These 54.8 million people and their 274 million family members are equivalent to the populations of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Sweden.