Global Payments Outlook
Across Asia-Pacific, cash was used for 16% of point-of-sale (POS) payments in 2021, but is the most-used payment method in around half of the region, including Thailand, which uses cash for 63.4% of POS payments, Vietnam (53.8%) and Indonesia (51%).
In Europe, cash accounted for 26% of all POS payments. Norway had the lowest level of cash use worldwide in 2021 at just 4% while Spain saw the highest at 47.1%.
In Latin America, cash is the most common way to pay at POS, with credit cards the next most popular choice (28%) followed by debit cards (23%). In Mexico, cash is used for 41% of POS transactions versus 24% debit cards and 22% credit cards. Argentina’s cash use is at 34%, Brazil’s is 35% and Colombia’s is at 42%.
The Middle East and Africa also continue to see high cash usage, with 44% of POS payments using it, well ahead of the next most-used option: credit cards, accounting for 20% of POS payments.
In North America, cash was used for 11% of POS transactions, behind credit and debit cards. Cash rebounded slightly in Canada, accounting for 5.7% of POS payments in 2021, while it saw a minor drop from 11.9% to 11.4% in America.
Worldwide, credit card use dropped in 2021 while debit card usage rose, and cards overall are losing ground to mobile wallet payments, which saw their share of global transactions rise by over 21% compared to 2020
