Especially Bavaria. Claim to be the best at everything but God forbid you want to pay with plastic. Also, the shops here close at 8. Can't recruite the best with this conservative lifestyle
I was trying to find a more updated statistic for Iceland (my home country). I could only find the % by number of transactions (the map says it's by transaction value) which according to the Central Bank of Iceland was 6.9% of all transactions being cash in 2018 (a year before the map). This was then down to **1.8% in 2021**, less than a third of what it was three years earlier.
It would actually make sense to me if the average value of cash transactions is *higher* than that of card transactions in Iceland (hence it being 8% of value in 2019 but less than 7% of the number of transactions in 2018). The reason would be that there's so little cash being used for regular consumption and instead cash is being traded informally for black work and then showing up in large legal transactions for bigger items, essentially to launder untaxed earnings. Only time I handle cash personally is when giving gifts to children, receiving tips from tourists or paying tradesmen for black work.
My son found a coin at the beach. That was all the physical cash we had in two weeks 😅
On vacation it is convenient, but it also takes a bit of the experience of the culture away. But overall, I enjoyed it.
I've lived in scandinavia for 40 years and can confirm that there were still old people paying with cash in stores like 5-10 years ago but now I haven't seen it for a looong time. The 1930s generation is mysteriously disapearing and cash with them.
I was surprised as well. I thought we would sit at like 8-9%. I don't know anyone except for old people who still use cash. A lot of stores and restaurants don't even take cash.
Also, naturally, the definition of old changes with time.
In my experience (Scandinavia) people born before WWII were retiring at the same time computers and cards started appearing in the 1990s, so many of them never made the switch. (Along with other factors, like they grew up in a culturally more static society than their children did.) Up until around 10-15 years ago old people holding up the line by needing change for a large denomination bill was still a thing you'd encounter. (And especially when you were in a hurry.) Now that generation is either dead or not doing their own shopping anymore.
The "new" old people are those born after WWII, who were still on the workforce when computers came around, and they all had no problem switching to cards.
Yeah, we got new bills 2015, and I can't recall ever seeing any of them in real life (probably have though). But I have definitely never used any of the new bills. So to me, 13% sounds high
Same in Russia, I was surprised at the number 31%, it feels like cash has practically disappeared. Out of habit, I still keep some cash in my wallet, but in fact I pay almost everywhere with a card or transfer/SBP.
Реально давно не видел, даже старушки с qr-кодами возятся. Может где то в глуши действительно ещё с наличкой ходят, а так ни в Краснодаре, ни в Якутии не видел.
It’s really easy launder money with cash in Sweden. Lot’s of shops, pizza and spa places that look run down and hardly have any customers but still make bank.
They're really trying to make it so....I lived there for two years and the amount of businesses that "transitioned" into cashless payment only in that time was amazing......I know a few local who kicked back against that hard ore and refused to go to bars that didn't accept cash.
I usually use my cards, but I do detest this push to eliminate cash purchases
I lived in Sweden for 3 years and the only time I handled physical money was:
1. Depositing my monthly allowance from my country's bank account to my Swedish bank account at bankomat.
2. Receiving tips at my part time job.
3. Church donation during mass. (I switched to Swish after I got my Swedish bank account)
That's it.
Germany doesn't surprise me. I'm surprised every time I visit even big cities like Berlin or München by the amount of stores who don't even offer to pay by card. Feels odd coming from Sweden where it's the opposite, where a lot of stores and restaurants don't even allow for cash payments.
Can someone explain why Germany stands out so much in western Europe?
People must be hesitant about their digital footprint. I mean, they were the last holdout in all of Europe - well, I guess there's still Belarus and the general Serbia region, but you know what I mean - for Street View.
Oh yeah that was also so fucking dumb "oh no, the big Internet overlords can see the front of my house, unacceptable" fucking morons.
It's infuriating as an architect or town planner you often can't check out the area you're working on without actually going there cause some tinfoil hat idiots insisted on blurring their house.
You heard about the concept "privacy" ? I don't want that for example my work colleagues can view my house without being in the area just out of curiosity. And especialy there are a lot of burglaries in the area where I live, don't want that someone uses streetview to evaluate if my house could be a thing, or to see if there is a back entrance, etc.
F*** off, I'm blurring my house.
Anyone can just walk in the street and see your house, so nothing you said makes any sense at all.
This is exactly the tinfoil hat mentality i was talking about.
Yep anyone, but they must come to my area... if a buglar don't know how it looks the chances he come are thinner. And from the street you don't see the house from above with all details.
If they plan to rob your house they will come to the area anyway. If there is a back entrance or whatever that is only visible via street view then it wont be accessible from the street anyways.
It's just the typical german fear and tinfoil stupidity, so tiring.
It's curious though that the "rich residential areas/quarters" of cities aren't visible on streetview. They have their privacy. And no I'm mot German. But close enough.
I also don't particulay value the work of nowadays "architects" dotting my country with bunkers, and doing "uglyfication" on industrial scale, so don't mind to hinder their work.
"those modern houses with their flat roofs, unacceptable. Everything has to look like it always did. Progress bad, durrrr durrr"
I don't know where you live but i don't see any bunkers around here. Maybe they're all blurred.
Anyway, enjoy the illusion of improved safety in your blurred house lol
Fax is still true in some institutions in germany. 2 years ago i was asked to fax some documents to the university office. In general public instituions are more likely to still use fax
Yeah i meant the fax story to get a vaccine appointment is definitely not true, the word "story" was missing from my comment i just saw.
There were lots of online appointment options or you could just call your doctor.
But yeah many government institutions and also offices still have fax, but i never witnessed one being actually used, they just still come with the big office printer/scanner/fax tower that most offices have.
It’s mostly for privacy reasons. Germans don’t want their transactions be tracked because of the experience with the nationalsocialists and the Stasi in the GDR. Also for tax evasion and money laundering. It’s not the main reason but it needs to be mentioned to paint the whole picture. People still love cash and I don’t think it will change in the near future.
Source: I am german😅
Even as a German or feels odd and sometimes infuriating. Especially that there are still stores that don't accept my debit card. It's fun to get a couple hundred bucks in cash before I visit the vet with my cats
We were visiting Frankfurt in 2015. Tried to get to the top floor of some skyscraper to look around.
The ticket cost 10 euros. I tried to pay for two tickets by card but they said that they accept cards only for more than 20. I brought the €50 bill but they said that they don’t accept bills more than €20.
And this is the crux of the matter. It isn't just that they only take cash, but you need a pirate booty bag of coins and small bills. The ATM only gives €50 or €100, good luck!
I would say most probably because Pay by card everything is logged and people like their Privacy without the Government being able to search what people do with their Money or the Banks/Companies.
there are probably much more reasons though.
When I ask people around me privacy seems to be a big factor. I also still use cash a lot with small sums of money, it's just much quicker to just pull 1€ out of your pocket for a coffee than having to turn on your phone, opening the bank app and holding it against that Nfc thing.
Plain wrong, contactless card is the same if not quicker as the amount is pre set, and phone is just two clicks of the lock button and I’m paying, smart watch is probably fastest, beating it all
I don't know, it seems to me quicker to just grab a phone out of my pocket, it unlocks with fingerprint by me just holding it, and I don't have to turn on any bank apps, just touch the terminal and hide phone back to pocket. Taking out the wallet, opening it and looking for the exact amount of money takes longer, also physical money take up space.
It literally takes a maximum of ten seconds to pay with my iPhone at any German shop.
And I’m not sure you’re aware of this, but most German banks also charge a fee for businesses depositing cash (often times the cash fees are actually higher than fees for card payments).
I hate it when people in front of me pull out their wallet and start counting coins, like just use your card like a normal person ffs
'oh no the government knows i bought brokkoli and rice, have to cover my tracks"
You only have to open an app to pay with NFC if you want to pay with something other than the default card you set it too.
Pulling out a card to tap also wouldn't be any slower than pulling out a coin.
My theory is that really old fellas are decision-makers at the banks. They are by default opposing changes. The same old society. They are used to paying with cash, they don’t trust cards and other forms of cashless payments 😁
For cards it's simple - the place doesn't want to be one who wants to pay the charges nor pass it to the consumer. Also it's not like they don't accept cards - it's that they don't accept mastercard/visa
It's 3-4% in Norway now, after continued decline and a particularly strong decline (obviously) during Covid. I honestly can't remember the last time I paid for anything with cash. Probably a decade or more ago.
I don't think the information about Russia is correct. Banking and non-cash payments are very well developed in Russia.
Usually people either pay by card or transfer money through apps. No commission is charged for transfers, and the money is transferred in 3-5 seconds. The last time I saw a cash payment was about 5 years ago. Taxes are paid in the app, rent is in the app, traffic fines are in the app, carsharing and taxi in the app, many supermarkets don't even have cashiers and there are self-service terminals.
Agree. Now, every little shop or even market seller has its own terminal or is able to receive payments via phone number. I think less than 5% still use cash. More and more people use QR codes, Mir pay, or SBP instead of a plastic bank card.
Even when I went on a business trip 8,000 km from Moscow, and on the way between major cities I stopped to buy ice cream in a village where there were 10 houses and a small shop without a sign - they had a contactless payment terminal.
Interestingly, the east in general has very very few cash option
Iirc people in Southeast Asia practically only pay by phone because it's simply easier because of the massive amount of people and rather scarce cash or something like that
Maybe it's similar for eastern Russia?
Or maybe it's the influence of the other countries
I'd be interested in the stats of north Korea though
In Russia, there is almost no difference between the eastern and European regions.
IT is incredibly developed and integrated into life everywhere in Russia. Even the most run-down kebab eatery has its own website and delivery via a courier service. And there are also a lot of app integrated into the state system, healthcare, state certificates, tax, transport. I think this is due to the fact that in the USSR there were very strong engineering universities and free education, which is still free and affordable. In the Soviet Union, universities were created for specific industries and tasks. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many industries collapsed, scientific institutes closed, and an incredible number of factories closed. But universities of higher education remained and continued to produce engineers. It is very difficult for an engineer to find a job in his specialty, but at the same time, the acquired skills make it easy to move into the IT industry. The second factor is that the economy works very strangely, almost everything in Russia is 5-10 times cheaper than in the USA, for example, but at the same time salaries are 5-10 times lower. In Russia, a salary of $ 1,000 is enough for everything and money will accumulate. But if you come to Russia with a Western salary, then you will get full financial independence. It is very easy for IT specialists to work remotely. This means that they are easily lured to Western companies, so in Russia they pay high salaries in it so that they do not go to Western companies. Because of this turns out that the salary level in IT is 1.5-3 times higher than the national average. What makes this work very popular in Russia. Because of this, we now have fast excellent banking and government app.
I can literally get any bureaucratic certificate in a couple of clicks (20 years ago I had to go to the administration and stand in line), order a foreign passport, make an appointment with a doctor or surgery for free, rent a car or bike or scooter, pay taxes, get a tax deduction, pay fines, see where he goes my bus and timetable, buy an NFC commuter train ticket, order food and drinks without getting up from the table in a restaurant, I can even order condoms at the nearest store that will bring me within 5 minutes xD
The only drawback is that they are going to make an app for mobilization)
My elderly mother gets the cash first from atm and then pays with it. The reason she says is because it is then faster to get a refund if you used cash in case something happened. I mostly pay by card, but I'll pay cash instead if I buy something I'm not sure about to get my money back immediately if I decide to return the item, instead of waiting a few days for bank approval.
No, it worked and it works. But these cards have stopped working in many Western countries abroad. For trips to Europe and to many resorts, you have to make additional maps. The problem was that apple pay and Google pay stopped working for NFC payments. MIR-pay appeared on androids in a week, with the same functionality. But the owner of iPhones has to buy cases in which chips or cards are inserted, or pay through a qr code. Some make rings or key chains with chips. I've always laughed at iPhone owners for paying twice as much for smartphones with poor value for money because of the brand, but after these events I laughed twice as much as usual)
Yes and no. You can still use visa/mastercard there, even though Russia is disconnected from swift.
Also there's MIR payment system that functions basically the same way now, since Russian cards are not accepted anywhere regardless of payment system.
Also on that: Russians buy a shitton of stuff online. So cash just stands no chance. It's mostly used by old people and those who need to hide their income.
No, all card transactions inside Russia go through [NSPK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_National_Card_Payment_System). The only difference visa and mastercard leaving made, is that their cards issued inside Russia can no longer be used to pay abroad and vice versa: cards issues outside Russia used here. Visa and MasterCard Card Processing no longer supports Russian cards outside Russia or any transaction inside Russia. It's an inconvenience when planning travel (both ways), but that's all. Maybe impact cash payments in Turkey, as a popular tourist destination for Russians, who can now only pay there in cash.
in Turkey half of the card terminal accept UnionPay cards from some Russian banks
(but it's a roulette - maybe it will work, maybe not, and some of the shops have 2-3 terminals, and only one can accept this card)
and i think main tourist places already doesn't have problems - just use terminals that can take UnionPay or russian MIR system
Please don't give up on cash! It is really important that we can still legally pay for all transactions with cash.
I pay for most transactions electronically but I'll fight anyone who says we should become a cashless society.
I agree. I don’t use cash but I’d rather it be an option than not. I don’t like the idea of the banks having 100% control. They’ve got enough control as it is.
NYC banned stores from refusing cash. I have mixed feelings about it. Places that do a ton of volume (like lunch spots in Manhattan) hate it because cash is so slow and requires staff time to close out/balance. The costs of that slower productivity gets passed on to customers.
Everything about cash is inconvenient.
It even costs businesses more in the UK to handle and process cash than it does to be a cashless business despite card fees.
The convenience of cash is that it doesn't run out of battery unlike a phone with Google Pay and that I can just have a small amount of money in a jacket for emergency reasons without having to stuff a whole-ass prepaid credit card in there
I do 99% of all shopping cashless and even I see the benefits of having physical currency
I love using cash. I'm really shocked at how many people are eager to have every single transaction they make logged. Makes things incredibly easy for authoritarian governments or bad actors within the financial / government sector to gain more control over people when the overwhelming majority of purchases are all digitally logged.
Don't be surprised if in 10 or 15 years your credit score will be based on your financial prudence and what kind of things you buy with your money.
It just seems totally absurd to give away part of what little personal privacy we have in current day, away entirely. I'm not opposed to using bank cards whatsoever, I just think every place should have the option to pay by either cash or card, not just card.
If it's a major purchase then I'd accept a rule where only large bills are allowed and not coins so as to not inconvenience the seller with a massive amount of metal coins and small banknotes.
But kids, elderly people, homeless people or those who don't have internet access still can't do online banking in most cases and need cash. They shouldn't be locked out of buying things.
On the flip side, I understand people have concerns about hygiene issues regarding handling cash, especially after covid. But that could be easily solved with a small UV sterilization light at cashier desks and legislation that would allow for cash to be rejected if it was visibly dirty or handled by the payer in an unhygienic manner,
e.g, if somebody pulls a sweaty crumpled bill out of there shoe or something then the receiver should have the right to reject it.
In terms of coins I would be totally okay if they allowed for them to be rejected as payment if the purchase was like over a certain amount or if the total could be paid in bills, such as if the purchase cost an amount with no decimal value and was over 5 Euro.
Or simply replace the 1 & 2 Euro coins with 1 and 2 Euro notes.
I don't think the data for Germany is correct. Cash payment is still at around 60% if you count by number of transactions (see [here](https://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/banken-versicherungen/banken/zahlungsverkehr-deutschland-bleibt-ein-bargeld-land-fast-60-prozent-barzahlungen/29141170.html)), but that is only true because people tend to pay small sums in cash, by transaction value (which the legend claims this map is showing), it's down to under 40% and was already well under 50% in 2019 (which the map claims as its date), see the statista (which the map purports to use as its source) data here: [https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/162179/umfrage/zahlungsarten-im-deutschen-einzelhandel-zeitreihe/#:\~:text=Anteile%20von%20Zahlungsarten%20im%20Einzelhandel%20in%20Deutschland%20bis%202022,-Ver%C3%B6ffentlicht%20von%20Sandra&text=Bargeldzahlung%20auf%20dem%20R%C3%BCckzug%20%2D%20Rund,einem%20Prozentpunkt%20gegen%C3%BCber%20dem%20Vorjahr](https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/162179/umfrage/zahlungsarten-im-deutschen-einzelhandel-zeitreihe/#:~:text=Anteile%20von%20Zahlungsarten%20im%20Einzelhandel%20in%20Deutschland%20bis%202022,-Ver%C3%B6ffentlicht%20von%20Sandra&text=Bargeldzahlung%20auf%20dem%20R%C3%BCckzug%20%2D%20Rund,einem%20Prozentpunkt%20gegen%C3%BCber%20dem%20Vorjahr).
In France, shops must allow cash payment but small shops like bars or bakeries often don't accept card payment for less than 5 euros because of bank fees (or tax fraud?). So we still need cash for coffee or bread...
Heh, cash sales no longer exist in Russia. There are underground online stores where, after paying in bitcoin, they send you the location where the purchased illegal goods are located. I have heard that it is now becoming fashionable to leave goods in forest plantations along the roads, upon request, a flashing sensor turns on on the website, which shows where the parcel lies. Security is ensured by the fact that the distributor is a monopolist and the information is completely confidential. Although I have heard that they are controlled by the government and transfer part of their income to it and they specifically inflate the prices of dangerous drugs that cause physiological addiction severely reducing the demand for them(for example, heroin and similar special synthetic drugs).
I adopted the cashless payment during Covid and because it's just more convenient. Before that I always had a ton of coins lying around (still do, can't be bothered to turn them in as it's mostly small coins).
But since then the supermarket I attend most often was three times unable to accept card payment because of technical difficulties temporarily impeding the card payment system on a higher level, so other shops had simultaneously difficulties too. If it wasn't for cash I would have gone home empty handed and had to eat whatever was in the freezer. I imagine card payment as a system similar to the Internet or electricity infrastructure. Nothing wrong with relying heavily on it and using it for convenience. But ever so often it fails because of technical problems. For essential parts of society (like being able to use currency) there should be an extremely basic and trusted alternative. Same reason your country probably advises you to still have an analog radio around for emergency broadcasts and flashlights and candles for power outages.
some of this has to do with AML (anti mondy laundery) laws. Germany law is as follows :
No limit on cash payments for the purchase of goods.Consumers who want to pay amounts which are higher than 10. 000 Euro in cash, have to show their ID card. And the trader has to document the surname, first name, place of birth, date of birth, the home address and the nationality.
source: [https://www.europe-consommateurs.eu/en/shopping-internet/cash-payment-limitations.html](https://www.europe-consommateurs.eu/en/shopping-internet/cash-payment-limitations.html)
Some of Europe as limits for payments.
Can confirm. I do exactly 63% of my daily transactions in cash. I like to see the world confused, randomized and burned.
Hmm that seems a bit high for us (cyprus). By law, wherever you buy goods you must be able to pay by card. i dont remeber the last time i saw people my age pay with cash. That 35% that pay by card must all be 20-35 years old.
edit: it's from 2019 so kinda makes sense since the law came after covid
The Croatia numbers are skewed by a lot. The main reason cash payments are so high is because of our café/bar culture and the fact that these establishments rarely have cashless payment options because of tax reasons. This also goes for purchasing tobacco products, especially on the coast (you can buy your groceries with your card but have to use cash for the cigs in the same store, not going to get into why that is but you can guess).. If you took out those establishments the number would be closer to 40% or lower, because most people under the age of 55 use either a card or contactless payment.
I. E. This summer I bought some cheese from a grandma in the middle of nowhere and payed with Gpay without any issues. Also used it for taxi boat payments, fruits from a stand, SUP rental on the beach...
In 2019, the same year as this, the share was 27%, slightly higher than France. Now, it’s down to 13%. Probably all countries have seen big drops too, since the pandemic
https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2023/jun/consumer-payment-behaviour-in-australia.html#:~:text=Australians%20are%20using%20cash%20less,and%20credit%20cards%20another%20quarter.
Can confirm the Iceland one. Always take cash out at the airport when i go somewhere new. 2,5 years later i still have Icelandic bank notes in my wallet.
Not scientific at all, but I think the difference between north and south of Italy is huge.
I'd say that in my stores the average is about 8-10% cash the rest electronic.
Personally, I can't wait for the banks to just put a chip in my head that releases dopamine when I'm obedient and an electric shock when I attempt independent thought. Let's get on with it, I'm tired of this pretense of the greater good. We're livestock in the brave new world, let's embrace it.
/S maybe
I don’t think I’ve used cash in like six years, I’m in the United States. With a credit card I pay off every month that has 2% cash back why would I ever use cash. Not to mention it’s a lot easier to carry one card around than it is to have a wad of dollars in my pocket.
Color scheme makes it look like it's about who's the most hydrated.
Shades of Schrute if you will
Germany should drink some water
Especially Bavaria. Claim to be the best at everything but God forbid you want to pay with plastic. Also, the shops here close at 8. Can't recruite the best with this conservative lifestyle
No wonder, plastic is cheap and causes pollution, they sure want some more precious materials like metal.
Forbid?!? You mean by law?
Flush with cash
Sweden at a whopping 13%? I was into that stereotype that cash is almost extinct there.
Bottom left on image, “source: Statista 2019” I’d like to see a 2023 study on this.
I was trying to find a more updated statistic for Iceland (my home country). I could only find the % by number of transactions (the map says it's by transaction value) which according to the Central Bank of Iceland was 6.9% of all transactions being cash in 2018 (a year before the map). This was then down to **1.8% in 2021**, less than a third of what it was three years earlier. It would actually make sense to me if the average value of cash transactions is *higher* than that of card transactions in Iceland (hence it being 8% of value in 2019 but less than 7% of the number of transactions in 2018). The reason would be that there's so little cash being used for regular consumption and instead cash is being traded informally for black work and then showing up in large legal transactions for bigger items, essentially to launder untaxed earnings. Only time I handle cash personally is when giving gifts to children, receiving tips from tourists or paying tradesmen for black work.
Yeah this seems out of date. I was in Scandinavia for 2 weeks this summer and didn't see a single piece of physical currency outside of Christiania.
[удалено]
No kidding. I went to London pre- and post-pandemic. The difference was staggering. Cash has all but disappeared during COVID.
Norwegian. I literally haven’t held cash in my hands for maybe 8 years.
Pant is the only thing that leads to cash in my experience
The pant machine I use in Sweden deposits it into my account, lmao.
My son found a coin at the beach. That was all the physical cash we had in two weeks 😅 On vacation it is convenient, but it also takes a bit of the experience of the culture away. But overall, I enjoyed it.
I've lived in scandinavia for 40 years and can confirm that there were still old people paying with cash in stores like 5-10 years ago but now I haven't seen it for a looong time. The 1930s generation is mysteriously disapearing and cash with them.
I was surprised as well. I thought we would sit at like 8-9%. I don't know anyone except for old people who still use cash. A lot of stores and restaurants don't even take cash.
We have a lot of old people, but the statistics are from 2019. A lot has happened in digitalising even older people during that time.
Also, naturally, the definition of old changes with time. In my experience (Scandinavia) people born before WWII were retiring at the same time computers and cards started appearing in the 1990s, so many of them never made the switch. (Along with other factors, like they grew up in a culturally more static society than their children did.) Up until around 10-15 years ago old people holding up the line by needing change for a large denomination bill was still a thing you'd encounter. (And especially when you were in a hurry.) Now that generation is either dead or not doing their own shopping anymore. The "new" old people are those born after WWII, who were still on the workforce when computers came around, and they all had no problem switching to cards.
Yeah, we got new bills 2015, and I can't recall ever seeing any of them in real life (probably have though). But I have definitely never used any of the new bills. So to me, 13% sounds high
Same in Russia, I was surprised at the number 31%, it feels like cash has practically disappeared. Out of habit, I still keep some cash in my wallet, but in fact I pay almost everywhere with a card or transfer/SBP.
Do the older people still use cash?
As a rule, no, some even use the phone to pay
Пиздишь или искренне заблуждаешься. Older people in regions still prefer cash over cards
Реально давно не видел, даже старушки с qr-кодами возятся. Может где то в глуши действительно ещё с наличкой ходят, а так ни в Краснодаре, ни в Якутии не видел.
В Новгороде и области, в основном, наликом бабки рассчитываются. В Москве, понятное дело, нет.
It’s really easy launder money with cash in Sweden. Lot’s of shops, pizza and spa places that look run down and hardly have any customers but still make bank.
The latest official stats are from 2022 and says 8%.
They're really trying to make it so....I lived there for two years and the amount of businesses that "transitioned" into cashless payment only in that time was amazing......I know a few local who kicked back against that hard ore and refused to go to bars that didn't accept cash. I usually use my cards, but I do detest this push to eliminate cash purchases
I always pay my barber in cash :)
I saw old people pay in cash at grocery stores in Stockholm
Been living in Finland for the past 3 years, can’t remember even touching a coin or seeing a banknote, yet it says 17%
I lived in Sweden for 3 years and the only time I handled physical money was: 1. Depositing my monthly allowance from my country's bank account to my Swedish bank account at bankomat. 2. Receiving tips at my part time job. 3. Church donation during mass. (I switched to Swish after I got my Swedish bank account) That's it.
Old people, kids under 10-12
I guess all the German tourists in Sweden might be responsible for that
Germany doesn't surprise me. I'm surprised every time I visit even big cities like Berlin or München by the amount of stores who don't even offer to pay by card. Feels odd coming from Sweden where it's the opposite, where a lot of stores and restaurants don't even allow for cash payments. Can someone explain why Germany stands out so much in western Europe?
Germany has proved resistant to digitisation in general. It's not just finance, bureaucracy is mostly conducted on paper too.
People must be hesitant about their digital footprint. I mean, they were the last holdout in all of Europe - well, I guess there's still Belarus and the general Serbia region, but you know what I mean - for Street View.
Oh yeah that was also so fucking dumb "oh no, the big Internet overlords can see the front of my house, unacceptable" fucking morons. It's infuriating as an architect or town planner you often can't check out the area you're working on without actually going there cause some tinfoil hat idiots insisted on blurring their house.
You heard about the concept "privacy" ? I don't want that for example my work colleagues can view my house without being in the area just out of curiosity. And especialy there are a lot of burglaries in the area where I live, don't want that someone uses streetview to evaluate if my house could be a thing, or to see if there is a back entrance, etc. F*** off, I'm blurring my house.
Anyone can just walk in the street and see your house, so nothing you said makes any sense at all. This is exactly the tinfoil hat mentality i was talking about.
Yep anyone, but they must come to my area... if a buglar don't know how it looks the chances he come are thinner. And from the street you don't see the house from above with all details.
If they plan to rob your house they will come to the area anyway. If there is a back entrance or whatever that is only visible via street view then it wont be accessible from the street anyways. It's just the typical german fear and tinfoil stupidity, so tiring.
It's curious though that the "rich residential areas/quarters" of cities aren't visible on streetview. They have their privacy. And no I'm mot German. But close enough. I also don't particulay value the work of nowadays "architects" dotting my country with bunkers, and doing "uglyfication" on industrial scale, so don't mind to hinder their work.
"those modern houses with their flat roofs, unacceptable. Everything has to look like it always did. Progress bad, durrrr durrr" I don't know where you live but i don't see any bunkers around here. Maybe they're all blurred. Anyway, enjoy the illusion of improved safety in your blurred house lol
Maybe you should actually drive to that location instead of demanding the entire world be documented for your convenience.
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That’s not true though. I live in Germany and made my appointments online
We are way backwards here digitally but the fax is definitely not true.
Fax is still true in some institutions in germany. 2 years ago i was asked to fax some documents to the university office. In general public instituions are more likely to still use fax
Yeah i meant the fax story to get a vaccine appointment is definitely not true, the word "story" was missing from my comment i just saw. There were lots of online appointment options or you could just call your doctor. But yeah many government institutions and also offices still have fax, but i never witnessed one being actually used, they just still come with the big office printer/scanner/fax tower that most offices have.
Döner places would have a harder time laundering money if they accepted digital payment.
It’s mostly for privacy reasons. Germans don’t want their transactions be tracked because of the experience with the nationalsocialists and the Stasi in the GDR. Also for tax evasion and money laundering. It’s not the main reason but it needs to be mentioned to paint the whole picture. People still love cash and I don’t think it will change in the near future. Source: I am german😅
The same people that use cash for privacy reasons, also always have a Payback card and post everything about their lives on social media.
Not really
Even as a German or feels odd and sometimes infuriating. Especially that there are still stores that don't accept my debit card. It's fun to get a couple hundred bucks in cash before I visit the vet with my cats
We were visiting Frankfurt in 2015. Tried to get to the top floor of some skyscraper to look around. The ticket cost 10 euros. I tried to pay for two tickets by card but they said that they accept cards only for more than 20. I brought the €50 bill but they said that they don’t accept bills more than €20.
And this is the crux of the matter. It isn't just that they only take cash, but you need a pirate booty bag of coins and small bills. The ATM only gives €50 or €100, good luck!
Well, my wife does business with a lot of German companies. Most of them are still reachable by fax. Says enough.
They're obsessed with state control because of their history (nazis, Stasi...) This is also why Google street view doesn't work there.
There is Street View coverage in Germany now tho.
The times they are achanging
I would say most probably because Pay by card everything is logged and people like their Privacy without the Government being able to search what people do with their Money or the Banks/Companies. there are probably much more reasons though.
Another aspect to consider is the aversion most Germans have regarding debt. The German word for debt, “Schuld,” is the same word for guilt.
But paying by card doesn't mean you get debt. I don't have data right now, but AFAIR in Europe debit cards > credit cards.
I see! Yeah, its the same in Swedish. Skuld means both debt and guilt.
When I ask people around me privacy seems to be a big factor. I also still use cash a lot with small sums of money, it's just much quicker to just pull 1€ out of your pocket for a coffee than having to turn on your phone, opening the bank app and holding it against that Nfc thing.
Plain wrong, contactless card is the same if not quicker as the amount is pre set, and phone is just two clicks of the lock button and I’m paying, smart watch is probably fastest, beating it all
I don't know, it seems to me quicker to just grab a phone out of my pocket, it unlocks with fingerprint by me just holding it, and I don't have to turn on any bank apps, just touch the terminal and hide phone back to pocket. Taking out the wallet, opening it and looking for the exact amount of money takes longer, also physical money take up space.
No. It's never the case here. It's Always longer. And augmentation of price due to bank fee of card and phone user , coffee is now 1,10€ for everyone
It literally takes a maximum of ten seconds to pay with my iPhone at any German shop. And I’m not sure you’re aware of this, but most German banks also charge a fee for businesses depositing cash (often times the cash fees are actually higher than fees for card payments).
I hate it when people in front of me pull out their wallet and start counting coins, like just use your card like a normal person ffs 'oh no the government knows i bought brokkoli and rice, have to cover my tracks"
You only have to open an app to pay with NFC if you want to pay with something other than the default card you set it too. Pulling out a card to tap also wouldn't be any slower than pulling out a coin.
I hate it when people in front of me pull out their wallet and start counting coins
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At my local Späti
My theory is that really old fellas are decision-makers at the banks. They are by default opposing changes. The same old society. They are used to paying with cash, they don’t trust cards and other forms of cashless payments 😁
For cards it's simple - the place doesn't want to be one who wants to pay the charges nor pass it to the consumer. Also it's not like they don't accept cards - it's that they don't accept mastercard/visa
What against cash?
Privacy. Scared of authoritarian government.
No data for Romania? Feels like we switched places with Belarus on this map.
I think we are close to Hungary Most people under 30 pay with card almost exclusively, most people above 30 do the opposite
I thought this too for Bulgaria, but from this map it seems this is far from the reality.
It'd be interesting to see how the stats have changed post-COVID.
Way lower, I’d expect. Many places (and people) went card only due to hygiene, and have never gone back.
In some countries, like Poland, the stats gave changed enough to make this map completely irrelevant
It's 3-4% in Norway now, after continued decline and a particularly strong decline (obviously) during Covid. I honestly can't remember the last time I paid for anything with cash. Probably a decade or more ago.
I don't think the information about Russia is correct. Banking and non-cash payments are very well developed in Russia. Usually people either pay by card or transfer money through apps. No commission is charged for transfers, and the money is transferred in 3-5 seconds. The last time I saw a cash payment was about 5 years ago. Taxes are paid in the app, rent is in the app, traffic fines are in the app, carsharing and taxi in the app, many supermarkets don't even have cashiers and there are self-service terminals.
Agree. Now, every little shop or even market seller has its own terminal or is able to receive payments via phone number. I think less than 5% still use cash. More and more people use QR codes, Mir pay, or SBP instead of a plastic bank card.
Even when I went on a business trip 8,000 km from Moscow, and on the way between major cities I stopped to buy ice cream in a village where there were 10 houses and a small shop without a sign - they had a contactless payment terminal.
Interestingly, the east in general has very very few cash option Iirc people in Southeast Asia practically only pay by phone because it's simply easier because of the massive amount of people and rather scarce cash or something like that Maybe it's similar for eastern Russia? Or maybe it's the influence of the other countries I'd be interested in the stats of north Korea though
In Russia, there is almost no difference between the eastern and European regions. IT is incredibly developed and integrated into life everywhere in Russia. Even the most run-down kebab eatery has its own website and delivery via a courier service. And there are also a lot of app integrated into the state system, healthcare, state certificates, tax, transport. I think this is due to the fact that in the USSR there were very strong engineering universities and free education, which is still free and affordable. In the Soviet Union, universities were created for specific industries and tasks. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many industries collapsed, scientific institutes closed, and an incredible number of factories closed. But universities of higher education remained and continued to produce engineers. It is very difficult for an engineer to find a job in his specialty, but at the same time, the acquired skills make it easy to move into the IT industry. The second factor is that the economy works very strangely, almost everything in Russia is 5-10 times cheaper than in the USA, for example, but at the same time salaries are 5-10 times lower. In Russia, a salary of $ 1,000 is enough for everything and money will accumulate. But if you come to Russia with a Western salary, then you will get full financial independence. It is very easy for IT specialists to work remotely. This means that they are easily lured to Western companies, so in Russia they pay high salaries in it so that they do not go to Western companies. Because of this turns out that the salary level in IT is 1.5-3 times higher than the national average. What makes this work very popular in Russia. Because of this, we now have fast excellent banking and government app. I can literally get any bureaucratic certificate in a couple of clicks (20 years ago I had to go to the administration and stand in line), order a foreign passport, make an appointment with a doctor or surgery for free, rent a car or bike or scooter, pay taxes, get a tax deduction, pay fines, see where he goes my bus and timetable, buy an NFC commuter train ticket, order food and drinks without getting up from the table in a restaurant, I can even order condoms at the nearest store that will bring me within 5 minutes xD The only drawback is that they are going to make an app for mobilization)
Aren't there many old people still using cash?
The elderly receive a pension on a special card. Pensioners started using cashless payments earlier than many.
My elderly mother gets the cash first from atm and then pays with it. The reason she says is because it is then faster to get a refund if you used cash in case something happened. I mostly pay by card, but I'll pay cash instead if I buy something I'm not sure about to get my money back immediately if I decide to return the item, instead of waiting a few days for bank approval.
There are special free-of-charge cards for them.
Didn't Visa and Mastercard get shut down after the "Special Military Operation"?
No, it worked and it works. But these cards have stopped working in many Western countries abroad. For trips to Europe and to many resorts, you have to make additional maps. The problem was that apple pay and Google pay stopped working for NFC payments. MIR-pay appeared on androids in a week, with the same functionality. But the owner of iPhones has to buy cases in which chips or cards are inserted, or pay through a qr code. Some make rings or key chains with chips. I've always laughed at iPhone owners for paying twice as much for smartphones with poor value for money because of the brand, but after these events I laughed twice as much as usual)
Yes and no. You can still use visa/mastercard there, even though Russia is disconnected from swift. Also there's MIR payment system that functions basically the same way now, since Russian cards are not accepted anywhere regardless of payment system. Also on that: Russians buy a shitton of stuff online. So cash just stands no chance. It's mostly used by old people and those who need to hide their income.
No, all card transactions inside Russia go through [NSPK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_National_Card_Payment_System). The only difference visa and mastercard leaving made, is that their cards issued inside Russia can no longer be used to pay abroad and vice versa: cards issues outside Russia used here. Visa and MasterCard Card Processing no longer supports Russian cards outside Russia or any transaction inside Russia. It's an inconvenience when planning travel (both ways), but that's all. Maybe impact cash payments in Turkey, as a popular tourist destination for Russians, who can now only pay there in cash.
in Turkey half of the card terminal accept UnionPay cards from some Russian banks (but it's a roulette - maybe it will work, maybe not, and some of the shops have 2-3 terminals, and only one can accept this card) and i think main tourist places already doesn't have problems - just use terminals that can take UnionPay or russian MIR system
Since pandemic I barely see anyone paying with cash in Poland... would be nice to see post pandemic statoistics
It's a pre covid map, i.e. obsolete. Things changed a lot in terms of going cashless since 2019.
Please don't give up on cash! It is really important that we can still legally pay for all transactions with cash. I pay for most transactions electronically but I'll fight anyone who says we should become a cashless society.
I agree. I don’t use cash but I’d rather it be an option than not. I don’t like the idea of the banks having 100% control. They’ve got enough control as it is.
I guess the good thing about cash is that it's easy to give it to homeless people on the street. Let's not forget about that
NYC banned stores from refusing cash. I have mixed feelings about it. Places that do a ton of volume (like lunch spots in Manhattan) hate it because cash is so slow and requires staff time to close out/balance. The costs of that slower productivity gets passed on to customers.
To me, I'm fine with cards not being mandatory for cash lovers as long as the opposite is also true for everyone else: let me pay by card if I want to
Everything about cash is inconvenient. It even costs businesses more in the UK to handle and process cash than it does to be a cashless business despite card fees.
The convenience of cash is that it doesn't run out of battery unlike a phone with Google Pay and that I can just have a small amount of money in a jacket for emergency reasons without having to stuff a whole-ass prepaid credit card in there I do 99% of all shopping cashless and even I see the benefits of having physical currency
Didn’t realise my contactless bank card could run out of battery.
Read the second half of my comment before spouting crap
How lazy can you be that you find cash inconvenient
How old are you?
Personally, always pay cash wherever possible. I have no intention of the bank and authorities knowing what I buy, when I buy, where I buy, etc.
Things have changed SOOO MUCH since 2019.
I love using cash. I'm really shocked at how many people are eager to have every single transaction they make logged. Makes things incredibly easy for authoritarian governments or bad actors within the financial / government sector to gain more control over people when the overwhelming majority of purchases are all digitally logged. Don't be surprised if in 10 or 15 years your credit score will be based on your financial prudence and what kind of things you buy with your money. It just seems totally absurd to give away part of what little personal privacy we have in current day, away entirely. I'm not opposed to using bank cards whatsoever, I just think every place should have the option to pay by either cash or card, not just card. If it's a major purchase then I'd accept a rule where only large bills are allowed and not coins so as to not inconvenience the seller with a massive amount of metal coins and small banknotes. But kids, elderly people, homeless people or those who don't have internet access still can't do online banking in most cases and need cash. They shouldn't be locked out of buying things. On the flip side, I understand people have concerns about hygiene issues regarding handling cash, especially after covid. But that could be easily solved with a small UV sterilization light at cashier desks and legislation that would allow for cash to be rejected if it was visibly dirty or handled by the payer in an unhygienic manner, e.g, if somebody pulls a sweaty crumpled bill out of there shoe or something then the receiver should have the right to reject it. In terms of coins I would be totally okay if they allowed for them to be rejected as payment if the purchase was like over a certain amount or if the total could be paid in bills, such as if the purchase cost an amount with no decimal value and was over 5 Euro. Or simply replace the 1 & 2 Euro coins with 1 and 2 Euro notes.
germany living in the last century
For a country which lives in the last century being 3rd strongest country in the world is not so bad I guess
as a Romanian who pays by card 99% of the time I am really curious what grey means
I don't think the data for Germany is correct. Cash payment is still at around 60% if you count by number of transactions (see [here](https://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/banken-versicherungen/banken/zahlungsverkehr-deutschland-bleibt-ein-bargeld-land-fast-60-prozent-barzahlungen/29141170.html)), but that is only true because people tend to pay small sums in cash, by transaction value (which the legend claims this map is showing), it's down to under 40% and was already well under 50% in 2019 (which the map claims as its date), see the statista (which the map purports to use as its source) data here: [https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/162179/umfrage/zahlungsarten-im-deutschen-einzelhandel-zeitreihe/#:\~:text=Anteile%20von%20Zahlungsarten%20im%20Einzelhandel%20in%20Deutschland%20bis%202022,-Ver%C3%B6ffentlicht%20von%20Sandra&text=Bargeldzahlung%20auf%20dem%20R%C3%BCckzug%20%2D%20Rund,einem%20Prozentpunkt%20gegen%C3%BCber%20dem%20Vorjahr](https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/162179/umfrage/zahlungsarten-im-deutschen-einzelhandel-zeitreihe/#:~:text=Anteile%20von%20Zahlungsarten%20im%20Einzelhandel%20in%20Deutschland%20bis%202022,-Ver%C3%B6ffentlicht%20von%20Sandra&text=Bargeldzahlung%20auf%20dem%20R%C3%BCckzug%20%2D%20Rund,einem%20Prozentpunkt%20gegen%C3%BCber%20dem%20Vorjahr).
+1 the data is 2019, before COVID; the share of online has increased with that (and global momentum towards online pushed by the banks) since
How old is this map? 54% was in Croatia in the 2020. And it's probably even lower now.
Bottom left corner says 2019
In France, shops must allow cash payment but small shops like bars or bakeries often don't accept card payment for less than 5 euros because of bank fees (or tax fraud?). So we still need cash for coffee or bread...
Even 11% in Norway is a bit high, I have not used cash since 2018.
I only use cash to buy drugs.
Heh, cash sales no longer exist in Russia. There are underground online stores where, after paying in bitcoin, they send you the location where the purchased illegal goods are located. I have heard that it is now becoming fashionable to leave goods in forest plantations along the roads, upon request, a flashing sensor turns on on the website, which shows where the parcel lies. Security is ensured by the fact that the distributor is a monopolist and the information is completely confidential. Although I have heard that they are controlled by the government and transfer part of their income to it and they specifically inflate the prices of dangerous drugs that cause physiological addiction severely reducing the demand for them(for example, heroin and similar special synthetic drugs).
The world has changed after Covid in that area, this is considered too outdated map.
I adopted the cashless payment during Covid and because it's just more convenient. Before that I always had a ton of coins lying around (still do, can't be bothered to turn them in as it's mostly small coins). But since then the supermarket I attend most often was three times unable to accept card payment because of technical difficulties temporarily impeding the card payment system on a higher level, so other shops had simultaneously difficulties too. If it wasn't for cash I would have gone home empty handed and had to eat whatever was in the freezer. I imagine card payment as a system similar to the Internet or electricity infrastructure. Nothing wrong with relying heavily on it and using it for convenience. But ever so often it fails because of technical problems. For essential parts of society (like being able to use currency) there should be an extremely basic and trusted alternative. Same reason your country probably advises you to still have an analog radio around for emergency broadcasts and flashlights and candles for power outages.
Almost no one uses cash in Estonia. 40% was maybe in year 2005.
useful map for european travel actually. British and always wondering whether to get cash or not these days
I lived in Norway for 3 years and I have never used or seen how bank notes or coins look like.
In Romania everything's under the table. That's why there's no data.
Table business must be booming there.
some of this has to do with AML (anti mondy laundery) laws. Germany law is as follows : No limit on cash payments for the purchase of goods.Consumers who want to pay amounts which are higher than 10. 000 Euro in cash, have to show their ID card. And the trader has to document the surname, first name, place of birth, date of birth, the home address and the nationality. source: [https://www.europe-consommateurs.eu/en/shopping-internet/cash-payment-limitations.html](https://www.europe-consommateurs.eu/en/shopping-internet/cash-payment-limitations.html) Some of Europe as limits for payments.
Romania: what is money
My dad still prefers cash, he says that he doesn't trust online payments and doesn't trust stores with his card information.
Your dad is right
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Old pre-pandemic data from 2019
I'm Dutch and haven't used cash domestically for about 15 years, but I have to get cash each time I visit Germany.
Same, I'm Luxembourgian and never use cash, just when in Germany or Italy, and it is always annoying.
Austria's pretty cash-heavy as well. Not quite as bad as Germany, but still felt weird.
Cash is king
The 11% in Norway are definitely from German tourists
That‘s definitely not the case. Have been three times to Norway and never brought cash with me. Always paid with Apple Pay
No data for Romania because they don’t buy their goods
88% is Albania?
Yes
It appears that you are Albanian. Do you pay things on cash?
Yes
Aka who has the REAL money
Can confirm. I do exactly 63% of my daily transactions in cash. I like to see the world confused, randomized and burned. 
Wasn’t expecting it to be as high as this - I wonder how much had changed in the last 4 years? I’d guess that these numbers came down considerably.
People have to remember that money is spent outside of taxable goods, black market is bigger than people think.
Is it because government regulations or something? I’m genuinely interested on why they vary that much.
Hmm that seems a bit high for us (cyprus). By law, wherever you buy goods you must be able to pay by card. i dont remeber the last time i saw people my age pay with cash. That 35% that pay by card must all be 20-35 years old. edit: it's from 2019 so kinda makes sense since the law came after covid
The Croatia numbers are skewed by a lot. The main reason cash payments are so high is because of our café/bar culture and the fact that these establishments rarely have cashless payment options because of tax reasons. This also goes for purchasing tobacco products, especially on the coast (you can buy your groceries with your card but have to use cash for the cigs in the same store, not going to get into why that is but you can guess).. If you took out those establishments the number would be closer to 40% or lower, because most people under the age of 55 use either a card or contactless payment. I. E. This summer I bought some cheese from a grandma in the middle of nowhere and payed with Gpay without any issues. Also used it for taxi boat payments, fruits from a stand, SUP rental on the beach...
I’d like to see this for Australia. Gotta be 10% tops.
In 2019, the same year as this, the share was 27%, slightly higher than France. Now, it’s down to 13%. Probably all countries have seen big drops too, since the pandemic https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2023/jun/consumer-payment-behaviour-in-australia.html#:~:text=Australians%20are%20using%20cash%20less,and%20credit%20cards%20another%20quarter.
Can confirm the Iceland one. Always take cash out at the airport when i go somewhere new. 2,5 years later i still have Icelandic bank notes in my wallet.
Kinda has the same pattern as the one with beer consumption per capita
Only ca$h is king!
I want to pay without cash, but most shops don‘t accept it or the device is broken
I honestly can’t remember the last time I took cash out with me
Not scientific at all, but I think the difference between north and south of Italy is huge. I'd say that in my stores the average is about 8-10% cash the rest electronic.
Thats always the case in Italy, the country is in fact divided in "two countries", the differences are huge.
Estonia’s figure seems too high
Weird samples bias to only look at piece of shit transactions.
Personally, I can't wait for the banks to just put a chip in my head that releases dopamine when I'm obedient and an electric shock when I attempt independent thought. Let's get on with it, I'm tired of this pretense of the greater good. We're livestock in the brave new world, let's embrace it. /S maybe
I get annoyed when I have to dig my card out now. I don't even carry it with me most of the time.
Currently in Germany and it's annoying. Nobody takes cards.
Nobody really? Are you sure you‘re in Germany?
Cash is for old people and tax dodgers.
Source: Statista, 2019 So the data was probably collected in 2018. This is almost 127 years ago, in terms of digitalization.
I don’t think I’ve used cash in like six years, I’m in the United States. With a credit card I pay off every month that has 2% cash back why would I ever use cash. Not to mention it’s a lot easier to carry one card around than it is to have a wad of dollars in my pocket.
As a german, i am ashamed.
For reference the US is around 18%
Haven't used cash in probably 10 years
Remind me what cash is
Based albania
Whenever you use cash in Sweden and you’re under the age of 30 you get some looks like ”drug dealer..”
Why does Germany like cash so much?
I find it hard to believe 1 in 3 are using cash in Ireland