Johannesburg, 30 July 2026 – South Africans are finding ways to make ends meet, but those strategies are increasingly becoming more fragile.
The new FinScope South Africa 2025 Consumer Survey shows that while most adults have access to formal financial services, many are using them only to get through the month. Rising food prices, unemployment and the growing cost of everyday essentials are forcing South Africans to prioritise immediate needs over saving, investment and long-term financial security.
Based on interviews with 5,600 adults across all nine provinces, the nationally representative survey provides one of the most comprehensive pictures of how South Africans earn, spend, save and borrow.
The evidence reveals a changing financial landscape. More South Africans are relying on credit to buy food, withdrawing money as soon as it enters their bank accounts and turning to informal work to supplement household incomes. Financial inclusion remains high, but the way people use financial services indicates growing financial pressure.
The informal economy continues to expand
Nearly 9.5 million South Africans now earn an income through the informal economy, up from 8 million in 2024. However, raw employment data often hides how the informal economy actually works. By grouping more than 20 informal activities into four structural pillars, FinScope reveals the economic safety net that supports millions of South Africans.
The largest pillar is the residential maintenance and property services category, growing from 35.7% to 38.4%, driven mainly by gardeners and handymen. This suggests that as formal employment opportunities become scarcer, many South Africans are turning to localised, property-based piecework. The domestic and care economy has also expanded to 26.0%, highlighting the continued importance of domestic work and community caregiving as reliable income sources. Retail and hospitality remain resilient at 16.3%, while artisanal and technical services account for 11.4%, supported by installation, repair and micro-transport activities.
The findings confirm that the informal economy is not as unstructured as is often assumed. The sector is structured, adaptive and resilient. Understanding these four pillars provides a stronger foundation for designing financial services and public policies that reflect the cash-flow realities of low-income South Africans.
"The findings show an important shift in South Africa's economy. The informal economy is playing an increasingly significant role in supporting household livelihoods, yet many of the systems that support economic participation were not designed with informal workers and micro-enterprises in mind,” said Brendan Pearce, CEO of FinMark Trust. “Supporting this sector will require practical solutions that improve market access, strengthen digital infrastructure and expand financial services that recognise the realities of irregular incomes.”
Saving is becoming increasingly difficult
Financial pressure is increasingly competing with long-term financial security. Almost one in two South Africans (48%) are not saving at all, while the proportion of adults who actively save declined from 47% in 2024 to 40% in 2025. Formal savings also fell from 30% to 22%, with emergency and goal-based savings declining. This suggests that many South Africans are prioritising immediate financial needs over long-term financial security.
"The 2025 FinScope survey reveals that South Africans are making difficult financial trade-offs every day. While many are using available financial tools to cope with immediate pressures, the decline in savings and retirement preparedness highlights the urgent need for financial solutions that strengthen resilience and support long-term financial well-being," said Jabulani Khumalo, Senior Data and Analytics Specialist at FinMark Trust.
Credit use continues to grow
The number of credit-active South Africans has increased from 29.4 million in 2024 to 30.7 million in 2025.
The relationship between saving and credit is also changing. Purchases of goods on credit increased from 18% to 24%, while lay-by usage declined sharply from 25% to 17%. While FinScope does not directly measure Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), the decline in lay-by use alongside increased credit purchases mirrors broader trends in South Africa's consumer credit market. Consumers are increasingly choosing immediate access to goods through credit rather than saving first through lay-bys, illustrating how short-term financial pressures are reshaping financial behaviour.
Retirement security remains out of reach
Only 10% of South African adults have a retirement product, while 86% of economically active adults – around 25.2 million people – have no retirement provision.
The survey also captured the early impact of South Africa's two-pot retirement system. Among South Africans who accessed their retirement savings – including retirement annuities and pension or provident funds since September 2024 – 24% have made multiple withdrawals. These account for more than 1.2 million withdrawal transactions. While many withdrawals were used to meet immediate financial pressures, others were invested in education, home improvements, small businesses and debt reduction, suggesting that many South Africans are balancing immediate financial needs with longer-term financial priorities.
Funeral cover continues to dominate insurance
More than half of South African adults (54%) have funeral cover, making it the country's most widely held insurance product. However, only 19% have any form of non-funeral insurance, leaving many South Africans financially exposed to risks such as illness, disability, loss of assets and the death of an income earner.
The findings suggest that many insurance products are designed around stable formal employment, limiting their relevance for South Africans earning irregular or informal incomes and reinforcing the need for more flexible and inclusive risk protection.
Banking access grows, but meaningful usage remains a challenge
Bank account ownership increased to 89% of South African adults, equivalent to 40.8 million people.
One notable trend is the rise of multi-banking. Today, 41% of banked South Africans hold two or more bank accounts, up from 39% in 2024. Most additional accounts are opened to receive social grants or government payments rather than to access better interest rates or lower fees. This suggests that South Africans are increasingly using multiple accounts to manage and protect their finances, rather than simply switching banks.
Encouragingly, the proportion of consumers using their accounts only to receive money and immediately withdraw it – the so-called "mailbox" behaviour – continued to decline. This reflects increased digital banking usage. However, around 13 million South Africans still primarily use their accounts in this way, particularly social grant recipients, which highlights the need to deepen meaningful account usage.
The survey also found that 46% of consumers experienced a problem with their bank during the past year. The most commonly reported issues included unexpected fees, IT system crashes or service outages, complex or unclear fee structures, poor customer service and illegal debit orders. In addition, 7% of adults (approximately 3.4 million people) reported experiencing fraud, including illegal debit orders or phishing attacks. Yet almost one in three consumers who experienced a problem did not report it. This raises the need to strengthen consumer protection, fraud prevention, dispute resolution and financial capability as the next phase of South Africa's financial inclusion journey.
The 2025 FinScope survey findings reinforce the need for financial products, policy responses and public-private partnerships that recognise the realities of irregular incomes, informal livelihoods, high dependence on social grants and persistent cost-of-living pressures. As South Africa's financial landscape evolves, the challenge is to ensure that financial services and policies help South Africans build resilience, improve livelihoods and achieve lasting financial well-being.
About FinMark Trust
FinMark Trust is a non-profit trust that promotes financial inclusion to support inclusive economic growth and secure financial sector development, aiming to include all people in the SADC region. For more than 20 years, FinMark Trust has collaborated with regional authorities, national governments, and the private sector to achieve sustainable impacts in the lives of people living in poverty. Through its evidence-based approach, the organisation identifies and addresses systemic constraints that prevent financial markets from reaching unserved and underserved people in the region.
About FinScope Consumer Survey
FinScope Consumer South Africa is a nationally representative survey developed by FinMark Trust to provide insights into financial inclusion, consumer behaviour, and development. Conducted through 5,600 in-person interviews with adults aged 16 years and over, the survey offers a comprehensive view of the country's financial realities. Since its launch in 2003, the survey has been supported by a collaborative model involving stakeholders from the banking sector, regulators, and financial service providers.
For media-related enquiries, contact
Dionne Solomons
Email: dionnes@finmark.org.za
For further information about the FinScope Consumer South Africa 2025 Survey:
FinScope Data & Analytics Division
FinMark Trust
Email: info@finmark.org.za
Website: www.finmark.org.za