Today In Data: Healthcare Debt, Unbanked Economy Boosters And Late B2B Payments

B2B payments are powerful, but so are mounting debts. Innovative technology is making it increasingly easy for companies and individuals to exchange money for goods and services, but rising debts and other negative factors are making the risks of not getting paid for those same items a little too real.

Today in PYMNTS’ data, rising healthcare costs and medical insurance deductibles are leaving consumers with hefty unpaid bills; billions of unbanked people (with payments-enabled smartphone devices) worldwide could help boost the global economy, digital lenders have been dishing out unsecured personal loans, YouGov’s found South Asian countries are ready for new digital payment tools and small- and medium-sized businesses are getting paid later than they should be.

Here are the numbers:

$4 trillion | Current value of the healthcare market, making up 18 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product

3 billion | The estimated number of people worldwide who are without a bank account (unbanked), but do have smartphone devices and could use said devices to participate in digital transactions and the global economy

$249 million | Amount of unsecured personal loans that digital lenders originated in 2010, a number which has grown 90-fold by 2016

78 percent | Percentage of consumers surveyed in a recent YouGov poll across Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka who reported being highly inclined to embrace new modes of digital payment tools

63 percent | Portion of medium-sized businesses that reported they receive a late B2B payment at least once a month, compared to 40 percent of small businesses (SMBs)