Network readiness, financial inclusion, and sustainable development goals: Insights from a clustering approach

This research examines the role of the financial sector in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by promoting access to financial services and leveraging Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Utilizing the k-means++ algorithm, we clustered 41 European countries based on the values of the Network Readiness Index (NRI) pillars—serving as a measure of ICT—and by the achieved values for SDG indicator 8.10, which reflects access to financial services. The results confirmed that cluster differences based on NRI components are significant, particularly with respect to: ownership of accounts with banks, other financial institutions, and mobile-money-service providers; sociodemographic characteristics of financial service users; and contributions to 13 out of the 17 SDGs. Notably, in terms of the impact of financial service access on SDG performance, significant differences between clusters were found in eight out of the 17 SDGs.