Youth Economic Opportunities Conference: Elisabeth Rhyne of CFI on changing demography and financial inclusion

Insights from the 2012 Youth Economic Opportunities Conference

September 11-13, 2012 | Washington, DC

At the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference, Elisabeth Rhyne of the Center for Financial Inclusion spoke with Microlinks after presenting at the session, "Financial Inclusion and the Demographic Divide: Opportunities and Challenges for Serving Younger and Older Populations with Financial Services."

CFI's recent work on demography is part of the Financial Inclusion 2020 project, which explores what the next decade will bring in terms of progress on financial inclusion and ultimately asks: could we achieve financial inclusion by the end of the decade? According to Rhyne, one of the inexorable forces that is going to shape financial inclusion over the next decade is population change in developing countries. The population is not only getting bigger, Rhyne notes, but also older. What does this mean for financial inclusion? Rhyne explains that we will need to pay more attention to financial inclusion of mature adults and the elderly. Watch the video to learn more:

Bio: Elisabeth Rhyne

Elisabeth Rhyne is managing director of the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION, a research and action center for collaboration on challenges confronting the microfinance industry. The Center spearheads the Smart Campaign on client protection. Rhyne’s latest book is Microfinance for Bankers and Investors (McGraw-Hill, 2009). Formerly director of the Office of Microenterprise Development at USAID, Rhyne holds a master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University.