Less and less cash in the European Union

But it’s not going to disappear quite yet. In fact there are more banknotes printed in the European Union from year to year. But the total sum of money they represent is decreasing. People mostly use cash in small denominations.

The number of cashless payments has skyrocketed during the pandemic and continues to rise. However, ATM usage statistics show that debit cards have not destroyed cash as a payment option. Neither did payment by phone.

In the future, the position of physical money in the European Union may be shaken by the digital euro. But even that is unlikely to completely replace good old paper cash.