In the Euro Area, the average person makes 22 cash withdrawals per year (ECB, 2019)

According to data collated by the ECB from 2018, non-cash payments are on the rise while cash payments are declining across the Euro Area. Still, the average person in the Euro Area makes 22 cash withdrawals per year.

Key findings include

• The total number of non-cash payments in the euro area increased by 7.9% to 90.7 billion in 2018 compared with the previous year.
• Card payments accounted for 46% of the total number of non-cash payments in the euro area, while credit transfers and direct debits accounted each for 23%.
• The number of payment cards issued (544 million) represented around 1.6 payment cards per euro area inhabitant.
• Around 44 billion transactions were processed by retail payment systems in the euro area with an amount of €34.0 trillion.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has today published the 2018 statistics on non-cash payments, which comprise indicators on access to and use of payment services and terminals by the public, as well as volumes and values of transactions processed through payment systems.

Payment services

The total number of non-cash payments in the euro area, comprising all types of payment services, increased by 7.9% to 90.7 billion in 2018 compared with the previous year. Card payments accounted for 46% of all transactions, while credit transfers and direct debits accounted each for 23%.

Download ECB Statistics here