Sweden ranks high in mobile and contactless payments, and some reports suggest physical cash could vanish from its economy as early as 2024. While each country measures cashlessness differently, Sweden is regarded as the closest to achieving a fully cashless society.
Here is the list of the 10 countries who are closest to a completely cashless society, with Norway taking the number one spot. Cash accounts for only 2% of all payments in Norway and 100% of its population own a bank account, with 71% also owning a credit card.
China is one of the top countries for using cashless payment systems, but penetration is not 100 percent. Elderly Chinese still often prefer to pay with cash and some struggle with using mobile payments.
While cash isn't disappearing entirely, data from Marqeta shows that both consumer attitudes and habits are shifting towards a less cash-dependent economy. According to Marqeta's 2024 State of Payments Report, nearly three-quarters of U.S. consumers aren't concerned about moving towards a cashless society.
Inflation Is Eating Away at Your Funds
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average rate of inflation from April 2023 to April 2024 was 3.4%. If you've been keeping your money in a savings account with a lower yield than the rate of inflation, you should switch over to a higher-yield account.
The concept of a cashless society has been around for decades. But with 84% of payments in the US being made digitally in 2025 according to Clearly Payments, research suggests that the transition from physical currency could take place sooner than we once thought.
The FedNow Service is neither a form of currency nor a step toward eliminating any form of payment, including cash. The Federal Reserve has made no decision on issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and would only proceed with the issuance of a CBDC with an authorizing law.
Only 13 per cent report having gone completely cashless. Despite more than half of Canadians (55 per cent) who say they have no desire to go cashless, 49 per cent think it is likely that Canadian stores will go completely cashless in the next 10 years compared to 31 per cent who think it is unlikely.
Globally several countries are now on the verge of being functionally cashless. That means that while cash is still available in the economy, both individuals and businesses can quite happily operate in a totally cashless environment.
Cash use has been declining for years, but cash isn't close to going away. In 2022, there were a staggering 70 billion cash transactions, making it the third-most-common payment method.
Sudan and Bir Tawil
And as for Bir Tawil – of course they don't have any ATMs, but there are some money receiving facilities in Bir Tawil town as we christened it.
Sweden's switch to electronic cash started after a surge of armed robberies in the 1990s, and by 2022, only 8% of Swedes said they had used cash for their latest purchase, according to a central bank survey. Along with neighboring Norway, Sweden has Europe's lowest number of ATMs per capita, according to the IMF.
Just: The Bible says absolutely nothing about predicting a cashless society, as some people claim. And in fact, if it did, the closest passage to anything that you could call a “cashless society” is not from the Book of Revelation, but it's from Isaiah, Chapter 55.
Westpac, ANZ, CommBank and NAB have ruled out going cashless, but the banks have shuttered branches across regional Australia, leaving some customers without the option to bank with cash.
The Drawbacks of a Cashless Society
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.
China is moving toward a cashless society
According to the article's forecast, around 60 percent of China's 1.3 billion population will have made a purchase via mobile payment by 2023. As the trend continues, China may soon become a cashless economy, where digital payment methods totally replace cash.
The COVID-19 pandemic increased cashless payments throughout the world, going up from an average of 91 cashless payments per person every year in 2017 to roughly 135 in 2020, according to the World Bank. The European Central Bank (ECB) found a similar trend in Europe.
Some countries aim to de-dollarize or reduce their dependency on the U.S. dollar, but it is still essential for global business and is a widely held reserve currency. There is no reason to expect the U.S. dollar to collapse in the near future.
Cashless society: disadvantages
Rural communities could also be left vulnerable, because of poor broadband and mobile connectivity. People with low income or debt tend to find cash easier to manage too. Another potential disadvantage concerns security.
In 2023, Sweden will become the first cashless society in the world, with its economy going 100% digital. According to the Swedish Central Bank, already now, nearly 80% of the country's residents use cards for conducting purchases. Overall, 58 % of transactions use payment cards, and only 6% are made in cash.
Many community financial institutions (CFIs) are in the same boat, trying to embrace tech and digital payments, while still acknowledging that not all Americans are ready to bid goodbye to cash just yet. Cards or cash? As mobile payment apps continue to gain popularity, the trend is certainly away from cash.
According to the FIS Worldpay Global Payments Report, Australia is projected to be 98 per cent cashless by 2024, and cash payments are expected to decline to just 2.1 per cent of in-store purchases. Yet, despite these realities, we're still lagging.