Report Archive
The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report is an annual report that compiles outreach data from microfinance institutions (MFIs) from around the world. It is a platform to promote the Campaign’s goals as well as an opportunity to extend updated information in the field of microfinance to the general public and practicing institutions. To learn more about it, go to "Project Overview".
2012 Report
The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report is the largest and most comprehensive annual report on the outreach of microfinance to the poor and very poor. According to the 2012 Report, over the last 13 years, the number of very poor families with a microloan has grown more than 18-fold from 7.6 million in 1997 to 137.5 million in 2010. Assuming an average of five persons per family, these 137.5 million microloans affected more than 687 million family members, which is greater than the combined populations of the European Union and Russia.
The 2012 Report also highlights the number of poorest women reached. Not only have these women been the most excluded from traditional banking, but they are also the ones most likely to ensure that the increased income is used to improve the lives of their children. From 1999 to 2010, the number of poorest women reached has increased from 10.3 million to 113.1 million. The latest data comes from more than 3,600 institutions worldwide, with more than 94 percent of the information having been collected within the last 18 months.
In addition to the data, the 2012 report exposes some of the most contentious debates that are raging in microfinance, going into detail about the Andhra Pradesh, India crisis in particular. Microfinance investors from Citi and Deutsche Bank weigh in on the impact of the crisis to the sector, and leaders from international microfinance networks ACCION, FINCA, Women’s World Banking, Opportunity International, and Vision Fund discuss how this has been a major turning point for their organizations. In the pursuit of recovering the soul of microfinance, the report outlines a seven-step framework for addressing this and other controversies and for getting microfinance back on track. As the seventh and final step, “Recognizing Excellence”, the report presents the progress on the Seal of Excellence for Outreach and Transformation in Microfinance.
PDF versions of the 2012 Report are available in English, Spanish and French.
2011 Report
The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report is the largest and most comprehensive annual report on the outreach of microfinance to the poor and very poor. The 2011 Report addresses recent controversies within the field of microfinance and announces a new initiative under development, the Seal of Excellence for Outreach and Transformation in Microfinance, which is designed to recognize those institutions that are committed to doing the most to help families lift themselves out of poverty. According to the report, more than 128 million of the world's poorest families received a microloan in 2009—an all-time high.
To order an official copy of the State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2011, complete our online order form.
PDF versions of the 2011 Report are available in English, Spanish, and French--as well as in Japanese (translated by RESULTS Japan).
2009 Report
The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2009 is an annual report that compiles outreach data from microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world. It is a platform to promote the Campaign's goals as well as an opportunity to extend updated information in the field of microfinance to the general public and practicing institutions.
To order an official copy of the 2009 State of the Campaign Report, complete our online order form.
PDF versions of the 2009 State of the Campaign Report are available in English, Español, Français and العربية.
2007 Report
The 2007 report singles out special praise for Jamii Bora: a microfinance organization in Kenya that started eight years ago with loans to 50 beggars and now reaches 170,000 savers and 60,000 borrowers. The groundbreaking institution started offering health insurance seven years ago when it realized that of those clients who struggled to repay their loans, 93 percent had the same challenge—a close family member in the hospital. As a result, Jamii Bora covers all in-hospital costs for one adult and four children by linking with mission hospitals. The total cost for the family of five is just 30 cents per week or US$12 per year.
Complete Report [PDF]
2006 Report
The 2006 report includes data gathered from more than 3,100 institutions worldwide and finds that of the 82 million poorest reached, 84 percent are women. Campaign officials spoke of how the microloans touch entire families by improving nutrition, access to healthcare, and school enrollment. “The loans to 82 million poorest clients affected 410 million family members,” said Campaign Director, Sam Daley-Harris, “a number greater than the combined populations of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Belgium. These microloans are giving hope to hundreds of millions of people around the world.”
Complete Report [PDF]
2005 Report
The 2005 report highlights two studies released this year that underscore the importance of microcredit in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Both focus on Bangladesh, the world's most saturated microfinance market. For 14 years, World Bank researcher Shahidur Khandker studied three Bangladeshi microfinance institutions (MFIs): BRAC, Grameen Bank, and RD-12, the latter a government program. Khandker found that three percent of clients left poverty each year because of their micro-loans, that one percent of non-clients left poverty due to the spillover effect of increased economic activity at the village level, and that microfinance accounted for 40 percent of the entire reduction of moderate poverty in rural Bangladesh.
Complete Report [PDF]
2004 Report
The 2004 report includes highlights of the new U.S. law and the resistance to it by some leaders in international development. The law, which was enacted in June 2003, calls for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop and certify two or more cost-effective poverty measurement tools that measure $1 a day poverty. The new tools are to replace loan size, which is currently used and has proven to be inadequate for poverty measurement. As Freedom from Hunger President Chris Dunford remarked, “The average loan size for entering clients tells you more about the institution making the loan than it does about the poverty level of the person receiving it.
Complete Report [PDF]
2003 Report
The 2003 report shows that 41.6 million very poor families were being reached at the end of 2002 or some 208 million family members. And if the findings were to hold for all the microfinance programs reporting worldwide, that would mean that 10.4 million people should be leaving poverty each year or more than 866,000 people each month.
Complete Report [PDF]
2002 Report
The 2002 report includes findings showing that the microfinance industry can continue to grow in capacity and financial performance while remaining true to its roots to work with very poor women and offer them the services they need to move themselves and their families out of poverty.
Complete Report [PDF]
2001 Report
At the time of the 1997 Microcredit Summit, progress toward the Summit’s goal was impeded by a set of conventional wisdoms that questioned several of our core themes and challenged the pillars of the Campaign. Over the past four years, the Microcredit Summit Campaign has made significant progress in answering these challenges. In the last year, several new developments show that the conventional wisdom is changing. This report will review our work in changing the conventional wisdom, outline the survey methodology used for this report, present the findings, and summarize our work in verifying the data of an ever larger number of institutions.
Complete Report [PDF]
2000 Report
The 2000 report includes the Campaign's survey showing growth in the number of clients being served by microcredit programs. The data also suggests an increase in the number of institutions now using poverty measurements to determine the number of poorest families being served. The Campaign will continue to push for the development of simple, cost-effective measurements for determining the poverty-level of microcredit clients through the Poverty Measurement Discussion Group and the Poverty Measurement Tool Kit.
Complete Report [HTML]
1999 Report
The 1999 report includes the Campaign's survey that shows growth in the number of clients being served by microcredit programs. Determining whether this growth in the number of programs and borrowers represents an increase in the number of the poorest families being served is among the most important challenges facing the global campaign. The development of simple, cost-effective measurements for determining the poverty-level of microfinance clients will therefore continue to be addressed by the Microcredit Summit through the Poverty Measurement Discussion Group and the Poverty Measurement Tool Kit.
Complete Report [HTML]
1998 Report
Meeting the Challenge of Reaching the Poorest: One Year of the Microcredit Summit Campaign reports results from a survey of microfinance programs involved in the global campaign undertaken by the Summit Secretariat. Adapted from the Microcredit Summit Declaration and Plan of Action, the 1998 report reviews what has been achieved and reflects on the work still to be done.
Results of the survey reveal that while programs are reporting progress in reaching greater numbers of clients, there is still much work to be done in determining whether this growth represents an increase in the number of the poorest families being served. The survey reveals that among the most important, immediate challenges facing the global campaign is the development of simple, cost-effective measurements for determining the poverty level of microfinance clients.
As of June 15, 1998, 622 established microcredit practitioners had responded to the Secretariat. These programs together report reaching 14,808,871 current borrowers. Most programs also reported the percentage of their clients who are in the bottom 50 percent of the population living below their country's poverty line. According to the information these programs reported, they are serving 8,127,504 of the poorest families.
Download the report [HTML]
