The daily purchases are paid in cash in Germany. On average, people pay directly out of their pockets when buying different kinds of things in Germany. Cash payments are therefore the most widely used means of payment.

In the choice of payment, Germans value security rather than financial loss, acceptance of business and costs, said Dr. Thilo Sarrazin, the manager at the cash department of the German National Bank.

Internet, non-payment facilities, discounts or loyalty programs are not so important for consumers.

However, EC-cards are the most popular in regards to the criterion of safety against financial losses. The credit card has a leading position in terms of payment via the internet. Cash-payment, however, has among all other criteria the best results and thus takes the lead as the most widely used mean of payment.

The amount of the payment determines the mean of payment. The purchase price itself is the most determine factor, depending on how much cash someone have. The survey shows that the use of cash is at 57.9 percent, EC cards at 25.5 percent, and credit card is used 3.6 percent of all purchases.

Young and elderly pay different.
Cash payments are made by the very young and the elderly (under 25 years and over 55 years). 96 percent out of everyone over 65 years state that cash is best. In addition, the lower the income is the more cash payments are made.

In the western part of Germany, one can observe that cash payments are used more often than in the eastern part of Germany. A trend shows that payments with EC cards are not as common anymore. 45 percent of immigrants in Germany believe that the payment card shows high acceptance.

This also applies to only 32 percent of Germans. 91 percent of all participants in the study have at least one EC card, 27 percent have a credit card.

On average, every person in the study had 118 Euro in their wallet, in addition to 6,70 Euro in coins.

The survey shows that cash will be the most widely used means of payment in the future. In the short term cash payments will not decrease because of other options, says Dr. Sarrazin.

A dense network of ATMs also supports the use of cash. Medium and long term, a slow decline of cash payments is possible. Only a further growth in Internet commerce will suppress the cash payment, says the expert at Germany's national bank. For the future, "Bundesbank" does not expect a success for payments via mobile phone or even fingerprints.


The prerequisite for this would be a broad acceptance in the retail sector and among populations across the country. Only when the new European payment system SEPA is improved, the National Bank sees opportunities for new, modern payment methods.

                                                                             Dr. Lars Eriksen
                                                                           DanRevision Group