-By Development Network-
More than 128 million of the world's poorest families received a microloan in
2009—an all-time high, according to The State of the Microcredit Summit
Campaign Report 2011 released today by the Microcredit Summit Campaign.
Assuming an average of five persons per family, this means that loans to 128
million poorest clients affected some 641 million family members, which is
greater than the combined population of the European Union and Russia.
Overall, more than 190 million people had a microloan in 2009; however, the
Campaign focuses on the 128 million poorest. In the 12 years since the
Campaign's founding, the number of very poor families with a microloan has
grown more than 16-fold from 7.6 million in 1997 to 128 million in 2009. The
report includes data from over 3,500 institutions with more than 93 percent of
the information collected last year and verified by a third party, the report
said.
"Microcredit has very effectively lifted millions of poor women and their
families out of poverty," said U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's
Issues Melanne Verveer. "With the 100th anniversary of International Women's
Day being celebrated on March 8th, it is gratifying to see that over 81 percent
of the very poor who received microloans were women – that is more than 100
million people. Women entrepreneurs are one of the smartest investments in
microfinance. Not only have they shown strong returns in the success of their
businesses, but they consistently have demonstrated high loan repayment rates
and they re-invest in their families and their communities."
To download the report (*pdf):
http://www.microcreditsummit.org/SOCR_2011_EN_EMBARGOED.pdf
