Today In Data: Cash Use In Europe

Though digital and contactless payments are on the rise worldwide, cash usage is still a reality. In fact, a recent survey of approximately 50,000 convenience stores in the U.K. found cash to be the dominant payment method in the region, with more than 75 percent of all transactions there still paid in cash. And Europe, in general, seems to be following that trend.

In the European economy, for example, overall cash usage is growing at an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.8 percent in eastern countries and 0.3 percent in western ones. It reached £70 billion in 2016, its fastest growth rate in a decade, according to the Bank of England, despite modern payment innovations like mobile wallets and near-field communication-enabled options.

Read more about the global prominence of cash in the PYMNTS Global Cash Index, a Cardtronics collaboration, including several data points offering relatively conclusive proof that consumers are not ready to give up the time-honored tradition of paper payments just yet.

Here are the numbers:

3.6 trillion | Total value of cash payments in European countries last year

70 billion | Total amount of euros in circulation in the U.K. in 2016

50,000 | Number of U.K. convenience stores polled in a recent survey, the results of which found cash to be the dominant payment method

75 | Percentage of point-of-sale (POS) transactions powered by cash

35 | Percentage of cash powering transactions in Austria

32 | Number of ATMs per 100,000 people in the country of Sweden

27.8 | Percentage estimated CAGR in Eastern Europe

10 | Percent increase seen in total circulation of cash in the U.K. in 2016

0.3 | Percentage estimated CAGR in Western Europe