Nearly half of the slightly over one million population of Swaziland live on debt with many not having means to repay.

According to the Managing Partner of Swaziland Credit Bureau Bheki Dlamini:

"We are aware that 40 percent of the population is in the credit database; they are active, regardless of whether or not they have been blacklisted. This makes one wonder how many people are economically active in the country and how all these people access credit. There is definitely an element of reckless lending in our credit and financial markets because some of these people do not even know how they will repay these debts."

Majority of Swazi's debtors are in the low income group. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Swaziland stands highest globally at 38.8%. This is much higher than that of sub-Saharan Africa overall (7.5%) and globally (1.1%). Life expectancy at birth in Swaziland is little above 30 years.

Swaziland is a landlocked country, bordered by South Africa on three sides except to the east, where it borders Mozambique.

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