For the first time the fifth edition of the PanEuropean overview report on the microcredit sector in the European Union for the period 2010 – 2011 covered widely Non-EU member states in Eastern Europe including all potential EU candidate states. The comparability of the overall data to previous editions of the survey is therefore limited, but still possible for the EU member states data.

Compared to past editions this survey put a special emphasis on gathering and analysing data from the EMN membership base and the most active and visible organisations in the sector. Therefore, a set of key microfinance institutions (MFIs) was selected that were surveyed in more detail.