With a low number of ATMs and a very high rate of paperless transactions for the entire population, Scandinavian countries are at the forefront of the end of cash. But how do they compare to other European states?
This is a phenomenon that could become widespread in the coming years. The disappearance of cash is already underway in several European countries, notably the Nordic countries.
This is what emerges from a study carried out by a Norwegian financial information site, Finansplassen, and relayed by Euronews, which brought together data to determine which European countries can offer their fellow citizens to go cashless. .
Concretely, the number of ATMs and payment terminals available per 100,000 inhabitants was measured as well as the number of people able to make contactless payment expenses and its ceiling.
This report was made possible by collecting data from the World Bank, Eurostat and other databases. The result is clear, Norway is the nation best prepared for a cashless future. In fact, the number of ATMs there is one of the lowest. Added to this is a significant flow of dematerialized transactions for 96% of the population.
Armenia, Georgia and Germany less ahead
Behind Norway, Finland and Denmark arrive just after. This second and third position is justified by the higher number of ATMs and fewer payment terminals than their Norwegian neighbors.
In the rest of the ranking, there are: the Netherlands (4th), Sweden (5th), Iceland (6th), Estonia (7th), Lithuania (8th), Cyprus (9th) and Switzerland (10th).
Conversely, some countries such as Armenia, Georgia and Germany are not yet ready to go cashless.
The Norwegian media Finansplassen explains this trend by the fact that the Nordic countries have a low population density and are more confronted with more “extreme” weather conditions making traditional payments more complicated.
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