<![CDATA[Global financial inclusion has expanded rapidly, yet many accounts remain dormant because their owners lack adequate digital competencies. This study aims to examine the effect of digital skills on financial inclusion and to test whether the gender and urban-rural digital divides exert independent effects. Drawing on the multidimensional concept of digital financial literacy, digital skills are treated as its digital competence dimension. Secondary data were obtained from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Bank Global Findex Database, covering 71 countries with 116 country-wave observations over the 2021 to 2024 period. The analysis employs hierarchical Ordinary Least Squares regression across three nested models. The results show that digital skills explain 61.4% of the cross-country variance in account ownership. Online product information seeking and digital content consumption are significant predictors, whereas health information seeking is not significant. Neither the gender digital divide nor the urban-rural divide significantly affects financial inclusion once overall digital skill levels are controlled. In conclusion, broad-based digital upskilling is more effective in promoting financial inclusion than interventions targeting specific demographic groups, implying that financial literacy programs should integrate digital skills training. This study is also among the first to utilize the Findex 2024 data released in 2025.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
