Study: Germans still pay more with cash than most other Europeans

Germans don’t pay as much in cash as they used to but still use bills and coins more frequently than most other European shoppers, an annual report published on Monday showed.

On average, residents of Germany made 304 electronic payments per capita in 2023, according to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which is behind the Global Payment Report. The figures are based on data from countries’ central banks.

This placed the use of debit and credit cards and smartphones in Germany in the lower third, according to the BCG.

Norway had the most electronic payment transactions per capita, with an average of 815, followed by Luxembourg with 753, Ireland with 705 and Denmark with 675.

Only consumers in Italy with 194, Malta at 243, Spain with 288 and Austria with 300 payments per capita last year used electronic payments less than in Germany.

Yet cash shopping is declining in Germany too. In 2008, the cash usage rate was 83% according to an annual survey by the Bundesbank, the country’s central bank. Last year it was 1% as outlined in the report Payment Behaviour in Germany 2023, published in July.

BCG financial experts expect that the share of electronic and digital payment methods will continue to rise globally in the coming years – but with declining profitability for credit card companies, payment service providers, payment app providers and banks. The group estimates the worldwide revenues of financial companies last year at $1.8 trillion, a rise of 9% over the past five years.

By 2028, this could drop to an annual growth of 5%, according to a BCG forecast, as the market for electronic payments nears its limit.