Cash usage in Sweden 2010-2020, by payment size

Using cash for payments in shops in Sweden became less popular over the years. For payments below 100 Swedish kronor, the share of respondents who used cash declined from 59 percent in 2010 down to 12 percent in 2020. For payments above 500 Swedish kronor, the share decreased by two percentage point from a use of five percent in 2018, to three percent in 2020. During the same period, the use of debit cards for payments in shops increased for each period for payments below 100 Swedish kronor until 2018, and then stayed at 71 percent in 2020.

Attitudes to use less cash

Are Swedes positive to exchange the use of cash for other payment methods? According to surveys form 2016, 2018 and 2020, a higher share of Swedes stated to be positive to use less cash than the share who stated to be negative towards it. However, the share of people who were positive towards it was lower in 2020 compared to in 2018.

Other payment methods taking place

  While the use of cash payment in Sweden declines, the use of other payment methods is appearing. The number of debit card payments increased every year since 2009, reaching over 3 billion payments in 2019. The mobile payment service Swish also increase in popularity, reaching just almost 7.9 million customers as of July 2020, of which most were private customers.