Are we still paying with cash? How much?
14/01/2025
How did you pay the last time you shopped at a traditional store? Cash, card, cell phone...?
In recent years, Spanish society has experienced circumstances such as the pandemic, rural depopulation and digitalisation that have encouraged the use of new forms of payment. In this context, the Banco de España has recently published the third edition of the Study on habits in the use of cashAbre en ventana nueva, whose main conclusion is that most Spaniards continue to use cash to pay for our daily purchases, although the use of digital means of payment continues to increase.
In 2024, cash was still the main means of payment for almost 60% of citizens in their purchases in traditional establishments, although its use has been decreasing in recent years. That is, although cash is still the most used method, online purchases and the use of digital means of payment are gaining more and more weight. In payments between individuals, cash is also the most common for 63% of the population, followed by Bizum (33%).
The survey also indicates that age and level of education are determinants in the use of payment methods. For example, cash is preferred for those over 65, an age range in which 78% pay in cash in shops. Regarding the level of education, people with basic training use cash more regularly, while cards gain users among those who have completed higher education, and mobile devices are also frequent among those in the middle and higher education.
For what reasons do we still hold on to cash? Well, for convenience, for habit and to keep control of what we spend. And we use cards and mobile devices, on the other hand, for speed and convenience.
The study does not foresee major changes in cash use habits in the short term, although this appreciation varies according to the age of those we ask: the youngest, 39% of those under 25, believe that it will decrease; on the other hand, the vast majority of those over 64, almost 80%, believe that there will be no variations and that notes and coins will remain in our pockets.
“Disclaimer: Please note that this is a translation of the original in Spanish that has been obtained using eTranslation (the machine translation tool provided by the European Commission), with the intention of giving you a basic idea of the content in English until a human translation becomes available. The Banco de España accepts no liability whatsoever in connection with this translation.”
