Ever wonder if we’re heading towards a world where coins and banknotes are just… history? Well, a recent look at how different countries in Europe are handling payments without cash gives us a pretty good idea. It seems the Nordic countries are totally leading the charge when it comes to ditching physical money, while some others, like Armenia, Georgia, and surprisingly, Germany, are lagging behind. Who’d have thought Germany, with all its tech, would be so attached to its Euros?
A Norwegian finance site called Finansplassen put together all this info from sources like the World Bank and Eurostat. They basically looked at how ready each European country was to let people pay for everything without cash. To figure this out, they checked a few things:
- How many ATMs (cash machines) there are per 100,000 people. Fewer ATMs usually means people don’t rely on cash as much.
- How many payment terminals (those machines where you tap your card) there are per 100,000 people. More of these means better ways to pay electronically.
- How many people use online banking. Pretty straightforward, right?
Their findings really cash in on what we might expect. Norway came out on top as the most ready for a cashless future. They have one of the lowest numbers of ATMs, and a whopping 96% of their population uses online banking. Talk about being ahead of the curve!
Finland and Denmark followed close behind in second and third place. They have a few more ATMs than Norway and slightly fewer card machines, but just about everyone there is using online banking too. It seems the Nordics are truly bankrolling the future of digital payments!
Rounding out the top 10 were the Netherlands, Sweden, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania, Cyprus, and Switzerland. And at the other end of the spectrum, as we mentioned, Armenia, Georgia, and Germany are still very much counting their pennies in the traditional way.
Around the same time, people in the Nordic countries were flocking to something called Vipps MobilePay, which is basically a “Nordic mobile wallet.” Their website boasts that it lets customers “send money as easy as sending a text.” Launched in 2015, this app now has 11.5 million users across Norway, Finland, and Denmark. It’s certainly making a packet!
But here’s a little twist in the tale! Recently, the Norwegian Parliament has actually been trying to encourage its citizens to go back to using cash. In October, they made some changes to their laws that will make it easier for Norwegians to pay in cash if they need to. Emilie Enger Mehl, Norway’s Minister for Justice, quite wisely said at the time, “In a digital world, it can be easy to forget that there is a large group of people who are not digital.” It just goes to show, you give an inch to digital convenience, and sometimes you need to take a step back to remember everyone.
So, while many countries are swiping their way into the future, it seems some are still finding value in the good old folding stuff. It’ll be interesting to see if other countries follow Norway’s lead in perhaps, counting on cash a little more.
Do you think going completely cashless is a good idea, or do you prefer to keep some coins jingling in your pocket?
