• • Africa processed 65% of global mobile money transaction value last year, or $1.1 trillion.

• • The continent also led in volume, accounting for nearly 82 billion of the 108 billion global transactions.

• • Sub-Saharan Africa alone added $190 billion to GDP through mobile money use in 2023.

Africa continued to dominate the global mobile money market in 2024, both in volume and value, according to a new report released on April 8 by GSMA, the global association for mobile network operators.

“The State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2025” shows that mobile money services on the continent handled $1.105 trillion last year. That’s a 15% increase compared to 2023. Overall, the global value of mobile money transactions reached $1.68 trillion, up 16% year-on-year.

When it comes to the number of transactions, Africa handled 81.8 billion out of 108.4 billion recorded worldwide in 2024—about 74% of all mobile money activity worldwide. That’s a 22% jump compared to the year before.

Africa is also home to more than half of all mobile money accounts globally. By the end of 2024, the continent had 1.1 billion registered accounts, representing 53% of the world total of 2.1 billion. That marks a 19% rise from 2023, compared to a 14% increase globally.

Still, the report highlights that Africa’s mobile money growth is not evenly spread. Out of 336 mobile money services operating worldwide, 178 are active in Africa, but some regions are advancing much faster than others.

East Africa leads the way

East Africa remains the most active mobile money region on the continent. In 2024, it had 459 million accounts and processed $649 billion in transactions. West Africa followed with 485 million accounts and $357 billion in transaction value, and Central Africa, with 104 million accounts and $83 billion.

On the other hand, North Africa and Southern Africa are still lagging behind, with only 25 million and 27 million accounts, respectively. Their transaction values—$10 billion and $6 billion—also remain far lower. Higher banking penetration rate in these two regions is one of the reasons behind slower mobile money adoption.

Driving economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

The report also reveals that mobile money is becoming increasingly important economically across the globe. By the end of 2023, the combined GDP of countries with mobile money services was $720 billion higher than it would have been without such services, according to GSMA modeling. This represents a 1.7% boost in GDP for those countries, driven by mobile money.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money’s contribution to GDP rose from around $150 billion in 2022 to $190 billion in 2023. The industry even helped boost GDP by more than 5% in about a dozen African countries, including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Liberia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.

The GSMA also points out that the use cases for mobile money have expanded significantly in recent years. These now include, among others, merchant payments ($105 billion globally in 2024), bill payments ($93 billion), cross-border remittances ($34 billion), and bulk disbursements—large-scale transfers such as salary payments and social transfers—totaling $97 billion.

Mobile money providers are also increasingly offering savings, insurance, and credit products, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Over the past year, around 44% of these providers issued loans to their customers, while 34% offered savings products and 28% marketed insurance products.

Walid Kéfi