It's not the only country in the world to do it. South Africa does it as well. You don't get credit by default, and instead you have to earn it by doing increme

It's not the only country in the world to do it. South Africa does it as well. You don't get credit by default, and instead you have to earn it by doing incremental "small" debt-like things. E.g. post-paid telephone accounts, buying small items of furniture on a payment system, etc. Until you do those things, you are most likely going to get denied high-ticket loans such as mortgages and car-financing.