With the prominence of online banking and cashless payments in the United States, it can be easy to forget that cash was once king. There are still millions of people around the globe that frequently use cash as their primary means of payment. Even in the US, cash transactions account for more than one hundred billion dollars each year.
If you are planning on traveling this summer, then you should be well informed about which countries tend to be more reliant on cash. Below is a list of the top five countries that prefer physical cash as the primary payment method.
Top Five Countries Most Reliant on Cash
Romania: With 78% of all payments using cash, Romania still heavily relies on cash daily transactions every business day.
Egypt: With nearly 70% of the country not using a bank account, Egypt’s citizens regularly use cash.
Kazakhstan: With nearly 12 million residents relying on the Kazakhstani Tenge, the economy of Kazakhstan thrives off of cash payments.
Bulgaria: The 73rd largest economy in the world is able to boom thanks to 63% of residents using cash on a daily basis.
Ukraine: With one of the highest ratios of ATMs to residents, the Ukrainian people are frequently using paper to cover their expenses.
As you can see, Eastern European countries in particular have a high interest in the use of cash currency. It is possible that their use of cash may decline in the future, but for the time being, billions of citizens around the world will be relying on physical currency and notes.
If you are in possession of any of these interesting foreign currencies and you need money now, then come to your nearest WSCE location!
With over 70% of payments made in cash, Romania has been revealed as the country most reliant on physical cash. Nearly half (42%) of the Eastern European country population is unbanked showing that many of the citizens still cling to notes and coins.
With a date set in 2023 to go completely cashless, Sweden is arguably the closest country to achieve this. It is currently not uncommon to see signs that say “No Cash Accepted” in various shops in Sweden.
Physical currency isn't becoming obsolete any time soon, so it's important to weigh up your options before deciding to go fully cashless in 2024. Ensuring you can accept some cashless payments though, is essential to keeping with today's trends and customer expectations.
The United States is the undisputed heavyweight when it comes to the economies of the world. America's gross domestic product in 2022 was more than 40% greater than that of China, the world No. 2. Even more striking, U.S. GDP was over five times that of the next two largest economies, Japan and Germany.
The weakest currency in the world is the Iranian rial (IRR). The USD to IRR operational rate of exchange is 371,992, meaning that one U.S. dollar equals 371,922 Iranian rials.
The US is moving toward cashless payments, with a substantial increase in the use of mobile wallet apps and contactless cards. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that payments made using cash accounted for just 18% of all US payments in 2022.
Demand for cash has dropped by more than 50 percent over the past decade as a growing number of people rely on debit cards or a mobile phone application, Swish, which enables real-time payments between individuals. More than half of all bank branches no longer handle cash.
Without cash, we would be forced to leave a record of everything we buy. While this may not bother some, there are many who worry that governments and/or corporations could use our purchasing histories as a way to track us, monitor us, and even intimidate us.
“Elderly Chinese still often prefer to pay with cash and some struggle with using mobile payments.” Less than a year ago, state media was lauding China's trajectory towards becoming the world's top country for cashless transactions. Xinhua reported cash had dropped to just 3.7% of the total money in circulation.
Sweden. Although it was the first country to issue banknotes, Sweden is the most cashless society in the world today, with just 32 ATMs in operation per 100,000 people, and with more than 98% of its citizens own a debit/credit card. It also ranks as one of the top countries utilising mobile payments.
Above all, cash reigns supreme mostly in the German-speaking countries. Austria and Germany showed a higher preference for cash payments when related to the other countries in the survey. Finland has far fewer people that prefer cash, at only 43%.
For starters, China has the most money in circulation ($25T), nearly double the amount of the U.S. ($14T). This is notable only for the fact that the U.S. has by far the largest economy in the world with a GDP of $20.5T compared to $13.6T in China, according to the World Bank.
Because merchants pay commissions to credit-card companies, small European businesses (B&Bs, mom-and-pop cafés, gift shops, and more) often prefer that you pay in cash. Vendors might offer you a discount for paying with cash, or they might not accept credit cards at all.
Nope. We might use less cash, but our society still has a long way to go before it's totally and completely cashless. And just because some stores didn't want to accept dollar bills for a while (and maybe still don't), that doesn't mean a cashless society is here to stay.
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