Piggy banks and some alternatives – this is how the world saves: About water buffalos, ladybugs and other coin banks

On 30 October we celebrate World Savings Day. And the little piggy is always close to the action! Be it as a key fob, fluffy animal, printed T-shirt or in its genuine form as piggy bank – the pig is Germany’s deep-rooted symbol of money saving. The Sparkassenstiftung would like to show you which animals are the figureheads of saving in our various project countries.

The Germans and their piggy bank look back on a long-standing tradition. According to the “Schutzgemeinschaft Deutsches Sparschwein” (association for the protection of the German piggy bank), its history of success started in 1576 at the Castle of Schweinheim close to the city of Cologne. The lord of the castle gave order to the servants, women and children, to acquire clay pigs and constantly fill them with coins to provide for situations of emergency. But why had it to be the pig?

The pink trunked animal has always symbolized luck and sufficient nutrition. In the 16th century, those people, who were able to feed and fatten a pig, were perceived as having a certain amount of wealth which gave them the opportunity to always put a thick slice of sausage, i.e. pig, on their daily bread. Today, the Germans mainly save on current accounts or passbooks. Given the current period of low interest rates, saving in funds, securities or real estate is also an attractive option of saving. According to some forecasts for the future, the progressing digitisation is even marking the end of the era of cash money. But all this did not change anything about the popularity of the pig as savings symbol – almost every second person in Germany possesses a piggy bank.

Piggy bank abroad: This is how the people save in Sparkassenstiftung’s project countries

On a worldwide scale, things look different. Pursuing its mission to help more and more people on the world to get access to financial services, Sparkassenstiftung has introduced the World Savings Day in a rising number of its project countries. In addition to the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mexico, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia and Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Colombia and the Ukraine, World Savings Day events have also been recently launched in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tanzania and Vietnam.

Here you can get further interesting insights into this year’s World Savings Day activities in our project countries:

Contact partner:

Carina Bauer
Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation
Simrockstraße 4
53113 Bonn

Tel.: +49 228 9703-6608

Piggy banks and some alternatives – this is how the world saves: About water buffalos, ladybugs and other coin banks

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