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Credit Union
Global dispersionMembership restrictionsCredit union leagues and associationsCorporate credit unionsHistoryUnited KingdomNorth American statistics
Global dispersionMembership restrictionsCredit union leagues and associationsCorporate credit unionsHistoryUnited KingdomNorth American statistics
Global dispersion
Based on data from the World Council of Credit Unions, at the end of 2006 there were 46,377 credit unions in 97 countries around the world. Collectively they served 172 million retail members and controlled US $1.1 trillion in assets. Note that the World Council does not include data from co-operative banks, so that for example some nations generally seen as the pioneers of credit unionism (including Germany, France, Holland and Italy) are not included in their data. The European Association of Co-operative Banks reported 34 million members in these four countries at the end of 2005The nations with the greatest credit union activity are highly diverse. According to the World Council, nations with the greatest number of credit union members included the United States (87 million), India (20 million), Canada (11 million), South Korea (4.7 million), Japan (3.6 million), Mexico (3.6 million), Australia (3.5 million), Kenya (3.3 million), Ireland (3.0 million), Thailand and Brazil (2.6 million each). Countries with the highest percentage of members in the economically active population were Dominica (147% -- that is, the average person is a member of more than one credit union), Ireland (110%), Barbados (72%), Trinidad & Tobago (57%), Canada (48%), the United States (43%), Benin (27%), Australia (26%), Senegal and Mali (19% each).