Assessment of the Factors Affecting Rural Households Savings: The Case of Wolaita Sodo Zuriya District, Wolaita Zone, Southern Region Ethiopia

With a 95% response rate, the study’s primary goal was to evaluate the factors affecting rural households in Sodo Zuriya Woreda of Wolaita Sodo Zone, SNNP Regional State, out of the estimated 208,595 total households. To do this, a multistage sampling method was used to generate survey data from 384 sampled households using a structured questionnaire administered in-person. The study’s descriptive frequency data, which were obtained using SPSS 20. Version, indicate that 78.4% of sample households overall had saved at the time of the survey, with 51.8% of them doing so in cash and 38.5% doing so in official financial institutions. Multi-variable logistic regression analysis’s findings indicate that women are less likely than men to save money; married couples save more than single people do; farm size can have a significant and positive impact on rural households’ ability to save money; households with larger land plots save more money overall; and there is a highly significant negative overall effect of formal financial institution distance on savings. These results lead to the conclusion that the aforementioned study area parameters affect households’ savings practices in one way or another. Based on these results, financial institutions should offer saving services by opening outlets & sub-branches reasonably close to rural families’ residences in order to encourage rural households’ savings and increase agricultural output through income diversification.