A country comparison of lending rates is only useful when two questions are clear: are the rates conceptually comparable, and are the observations from the same year? This article uses the World Bank World Development Indicators series Lending interest rate (%), code FR.INR.LEND. The source file contains 148 latest non-null country observations, but their reference years range from 1988 to 2025. The map and ranking therefore use only the 69 countries with an observation dated 2025.
Across those 69 same-year observations, the simple median is 8.52% and the unweighted mean is 11.80%. The mean is roughly 3.28 percentage points above the median because a small group of very high observations, including Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Argentina and Brazil, pulls the upper tail upward. The Republic of Korea is 4.19% in 2025, about 4.33 percentage points below the 69-country median.
Table of Contents
What does the World Bank lending interest rate measure?
The World Bank metadata describes the lending rate as the bank rate that usually meets the short- and medium-term financing needs of the private sector. Rates can differ according to the borrower’s creditworthiness and the purpose of financing. The underlying source is the IMF International Financial Statistics database, and WDI publishes the series annually. This is therefore not a direct quote for a specific mortgage, credit card, auto loan, or small-business loan product.
A country value of 8% does not mean that every household or company can borrow at exactly 8%. Loan pricing can vary by collateral, borrower risk, maturity, currency, fees and market segment. The World Bank explicitly warns that the terms and conditions attached to lending rates differ by country, limiting comparability. The map is most useful for identifying broad differences in reported lending-rate levels, not for turning small decimal differences into a league table of financial-system quality.
Only 69 observations can be aligned to 2025
The 148 latest observations look current at first glance, but their dates are widely dispersed. There are 69 observations dated 2025 and 19 dated 2024. Twelve are from 2021, while 2017 and 2016 each account for seven. Some country series are much older; Somalia’s retained latest observation is dated 1988. A latest-available-value dataset answers a different question from a synchronized 2025 comparison.
| Reference year | Number of latest country observations |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 69 |
| 2024 | 19 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2022 | 6 |
| 2021 | 12 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 5 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2017 | 7 |
| 2016 | 7 |
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2014 | 3 |
| 2013 | 3 |
| 2010 | 2 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2006 | 1 |
| 2001 | 1 |
| 1988 | 1 |
For that reason, the 2025 map and statistics keep only the 69 rows dated 2025. China’s latest retained value is from 2024, India’s from 2022, the United States from 2021, Japan and Canada from 2017, and the United Kingdom from 2014. A gray country on the 2025 map does not mean a zero rate; it means that the latest retained observation does not belong to the synchronized 2025 subset.
The center of the 2025 distribution is the 5–10% range
Treating each of the 69 country rows equally, the median is 8.52% and the simple mean is 11.80%. The first quartile is 6.25% and the third quartile is 12.85%. This is not a world lending rate weighted by GDP, population, banking assets or loan balances. It is simply a summary of the 69 country percentages.
| 2025 lending-rate band | Countries | Share of 69 |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5% | 10 | 14.5% |
| 5–<10% | 31 | 44.9% |
| 10–<15% | 16 | 23.2% |
| 15–<25% | 8 | 11.6% |
| 25–<50% | 3 | 4.3% |
| 50% or more | 1 | 1.4% |
The largest group, 31 countries, lies between 5% and 10%. Sixteen are between 10% and 15%, while 10 are below 5%. Eight fall between 15% and 25%, three are between 25% and 50%, and only one is at or above 50%. The visual impact of the very high observations is therefore larger than their numerical share of the sample. This also explains why the mean is materially above the median.
Madagascar has the highest 2025 observation at 60.00%
| Country | 2025 lending interest rate |
|---|---|
| Madagascar | 60.00% |
| Zimbabwe | 46.36% |
| Argentina | 46.02% |
| Brazil | 45.33% |
| Gambia | 22.00% |
| Sierra Leone | 21.44% |
| Ukraine | 19.70% |
| Angola | 19.37% |
| Honduras | 18.58% |
| Mozambique | 17.53% |
Madagascar is the highest 2025 observation at 60.00%. Zimbabwe is 46.36%, Argentina 46.02% and Brazil 45.33%. The Gambia and Sierra Leone exceed 20%, while Ukraine and Angola are close to 20%. Honduras and Mozambique are in the high teens. The four observations above 45% strongly influence the unweighted mean.
A high lending rate can be associated with tight financial conditions, inflation, funding costs, credit risk or other macro-financial factors, but this single indicator cannot establish the cause. Policy rates, inflation, exchange rates, bank funding structures, risk premiums, lending regulation and time-series movements should be checked before explaining why a country is high. Similar headline rates in two countries can arise from very different financial environments.
Thailand, Italy and Korea are among the lowest 2025 observations
| Country | 2025 lending interest rate |
|---|---|
| Thailand | 3.94% |
| Italy | 4.07% |
| Korea, Republic of | 4.19% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4.22% |
| Bulgaria | 4.24% |
| Bahamas | 4.25% |
| San Marino | 4.62% |
| Czechia | 4.67% |
| Qatar | 4.75% |
| Malaysia | 4.82% |
Thailand records 3.94%, Italy 4.07% and the Republic of Korea 4.19%. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and The Bahamas are also around 4.2%, while San Marino and Czechia are in the mid-4% range. Qatar and Malaysia remain below 5%. These values place them near the low end of the synchronized 2025 set, but they do not automatically mean that every borrower faces cheap credit.
The indicator represents a national lending-rate series, not an all-in borrowing cost for each product. Mortgages, consumer loans and business credit can have different base rates, risk premiums, fees and eligibility rules. A household comparing actual credit costs needs product-level annual percentage rates or effective rates, not this country-level macro indicator alone.
Korea is 4.19%, below the 69-country median
| Country | 2025 lending interest rate |
|---|---|
| Argentina | 46.02% |
| Brazil | 45.33% |
| Ukraine | 19.70% |
| Georgia | 15.79% |
| Azerbaijan | 15.34% |
| Colombia | 14.31% |
| South Africa | 10.69% |
| Mexico | 8.79% |
| Bangladesh | 8.62% |
| Indonesia | 8.50% |
| Korea, Republic of | 4.19% |
| Italy | 4.07% |
| Thailand | 3.94% |
Within the same 2025 reference year, Korea is 4.19%. Mexico is 8.79%, Indonesia 8.50%, South Africa 10.69%, Colombia 14.31% and Ukraine 19.70%. Brazil and Argentina are far higher at 45.33% and 46.02%, respectively. The benefit of this table is temporal consistency: every value shown in it is dated 2025.
Korea’s low position should not be described as a complete global ranking because several major economies are absent from the 2025 subset. The United States, Japan, China, India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Singapore all have retained latest observations from other years. The accurate statement is that Korea is near the low end of the 69 countries with a 2025 observation in this dataset.
Latest values for major economies must be read with their year
| Country | Latest observation year | Lending interest rate |
|---|---|---|
| Korea, Republic of | 2025 | 4.19% |
| China | 2024 | 4.35% |
| India | 2022 | 8.57% |
| Singapore | 2021 | 5.25% |
| United States | 2021 | 3.25% |
| Australia | 2019 | 5.10% |
| Canada | 2017 | 2.70% |
| Japan | 2017 | 0.99% |
| United Kingdom | 2014 | 0.50% |
China’s retained latest value is 4.35% in 2024, India is 8.57% in 2022 and the United States is 3.25% in 2021. Australia is 5.10% in 2019, while Japan and Canada are dated 2017. The United Kingdom’s retained latest observation is 0.50% in 2014, and Singapore is 5.25% in 2021. Mixing these values into a 2025 ranking would make financial conditions from very different periods appear simultaneous.
A latest-available map can still be useful because it shows where reporting is recent and where the series has become stale. Interest rates can move quickly with monetary and financial conditions, however, so observations that are several years old should not be treated as a description of today’s borrowing environment. The observation year is therefore part of the statistic, not a footnote.
Lending rates are different from policy, deposit and real interest rates
A lending interest rate describes rates charged by banks to borrowers in the relevant national series. A policy rate is connected to the central bank’s monetary-policy framework. A deposit rate is what banks pay depositors, while an interest-rate spread compares lending and deposit rates. World Bank WDI publishes separate series for these concepts. Treating them as interchangeable can lead to incorrect explanations of why borrowing costs move.
Real interest rates add another distinction because they adjust nominal lending rates for inflation using a defined methodology. A relatively low nominal lending rate can coexist with a different real borrowing environment depending on inflation. For questions about financial pressure on households or firms, lending rates are best read alongside inflation, real rates, spreads, credit volumes and the terms on actual loan products.
Cross-country comparability is the main interpretation limit
The World Bank’s comparability warning matters because countries do not report an identical loan product under identical conditions. The representative lending series can reflect differences in market structure, maturity, borrower type, collateral, currency and banking practices. Even with the same official series code, the underlying economic meaning is more comparable in broad level than in fine decimal detail.
A safer reading is to focus first on broad bands such as below 5%, 5–10%, 10–15% and above 15%. If a country is unusually high or low, the next step is to check its recent time series and other rate indicators rather than infer a cause from geography alone. This preserves what the map does well—spotting large differences—without claiming more precision than the source supports.
Data source and calculation method
The country values come from the World Bank WDI Lending interest rate (%) series FR.INR.LEND. The WDI metadata glossary identifies the IMF International Financial Statistics database as the underlying source, with annual frequency, and describes the rate as a bank lending rate commonly used for short- and medium-term private-sector financing. It also states that country-specific terms and conditions limit comparability.
The analysis starts with 148 latest non-null country or area rows after excluding aggregate regions and income groups. The map, top and bottom tables, mean, median and band counts use only the 69 observations whose year is exactly 2025. Older values are not backfilled into 2025 and missing values are not converted to zero.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Korea’s lending interest rate in the 2025 comparison?
The Republic of Korea is 4.19% in the World Bank WDI FR.INR.LEND 2025 observation used here, below the 69-country median of 8.52%.
Does a high lending rate mean every loan product is expensive?
No. The WDI series is a national bank lending-rate indicator. Mortgages, consumer loans and business loans can differ by borrower risk, collateral, maturity, fees and product structure.
Why are the United States and Japan gray on the 2025 map?
Their retained latest observations are not dated 2025: the United States is 2021 and Japan is 2017. Older values are not mixed into the synchronized 2025 comparison.
Is the lending interest rate the same as the policy rate?
No. A policy rate belongs to the central bank’s monetary-policy framework, while this indicator represents a bank lending-rate series for private-sector financing.
Related Articles
Lending rates are easier to interpret alongside banking-income structure and the broader World Bank data environment. The following live Green Blog articles cover directly related financial or World Bank data topics without duplicating this indicator.
- Bank Noninterest Income Share by Country
- World Bank Global Economic Monitor Guide
- World Bank Data Catalog Licensing Guide
Green Map creates custom-edited map images using open geographic data sources such as geoBoundaries, Natural Earth, OpenStreetMap, and government open data.
These maps are edited visual materials, not raw data files, and are provided for education, documents, presentations, and graphic reference.
