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In Belgium, cash was used for 32% of point-of-sale payments in terms of value in 2016 (ECB, 2017)

Nov 24, 2017

The statistic comes from the European Central Bank's study on Cash Use by Household in the Euro Area, published in November 2017.

The report presents estimations of the number and value of cash transactions in all 19 euro area countries in 2016, based on survey result as well as figures on main payments by demographic.

According to the findings from the European Central Bank's report, cash was used for 85% of point-of-sale payments in Austria in terms of number of transactions (ECB, 2017).

Excerpts from ECB

"The use of cash and cards differs according to country, place of purchase, transaction value and consumers’ demographic characteristics. In terms of number of transactions, cash was most used in the southern euro area countries, as well as in Germany, Austria and Slovenia, where 80% or more of POS transactions were conducted with cash." (p. 4)

"Comparing the use of cash per country, it can be concluded that cash was used most in southern euro area countries, as well as in Germany, Austria and Slovenia (resulting in country shares of 80% or above for all POS transactions). The market share of cash was lower in Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Ireland, ranging from 71% to 79%. Belgium, Luxembourg and France follow with a cash share ranging between 63% and 68%. The Netherlands, Estonia and Finland had the lowest shares, ranging between 45% and 54% of all payments at POS." (p. 19)

European Central Bank (Nov, 2017)

"Cash was least used in the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland, where its share in the number of transactions ranged between 45% and 54%. In terms of value, the share of cash was highest in Greece, Cyprus and Malta (above 70%), while it was lowest in the Benelux countries, Estonia, France and Finland (at, or below, 33%)."(p. 4)

"Overall, the results put the use of cash relative to non-cash payment methods by consumers at POS into perspective, and indicate that the use of cash at POS is still widespread in most euro area countries. This seems to challenge the perception that cash is rapidly being replaced by cashless means of payment." (p. 4)

Download study here