Cash usage and payments in Germany
Germans still pay cash often, and the share is falling. In the latest Bundesbank study on payment behavior, card, app and transfer payments made up more than half of all everyday payments for the first time. Cash remains the single most used means of payment. Dated events on payments are in the calendar below.
Cash accounts for 45 percent of everyday payments
The study counts 45 percent of transactions and 23 percent of turnover in cash. The debit card has the largest share of turnover at 28 percent. Mobile payments nearly doubled their share and reached ten percent of all payments, with Apple Pay used by 41 percent of mobile payers. Between private persons, 71 percent of payments are still made in cash.
On average respondents carry 98 euros in their wallet, and 43 percent keep additional cash at home. More than 80 percent of the cash they need still comes from ATMs, though more people now withdraw at the supermarket till. The market research institute forsa surveyed 6,070 people aged 18 and over between September and December 2025, and respondents kept a three-day payment diary.
Cash versus digital payments
Cash leads in shops for daily needs, in restaurants, at markets and between private persons. The debit card leads for other purchases in stores. Online, internet payment methods, mainly PayPal, take half of all transactions. 52 percent prefer cashless means of payment and 26 percent prefer cash, and people who use cash name privacy and control over their spending.
Acceptance runs in both directions. Cash could be used in 94 percent of in-store purchases and card or mobile payment in 86 percent, five points more than two years earlier. 73 percent support a duty for merchants to offer at least one digital option next to cash. Card payments in Germany covers girocard, Visa and Mastercard debit.
What it means for banks and payment providers
For banks the study is a planning document. 29 percent of respondents found it harder than two years before to reach an ATM, mostly in large cities, so branch and ATM networks are under watch. A third already use instant transfers regularly, which instant payments in Europe explains.
63 percent called more European autonomy in payments necessary, and 46 percent had heard of the digital euro. Wero, which Sparkassen, Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken, Deutsche Bank, Postbank, ING Deutschland and Revolut have built into their apps or support, competes for the everyday payments that cash and cards cover today.
Upcoming payments events in Germany
How much do Germans pay in cash?
In the Bundesbank study, 45 percent of everyday payments and 23 percent of turnover were in cash. In 2023 the share by number was 51 percent.
Do Germans want to keep cash?
Yes. 80 percent say it is important that cash payment remains possible, and 68 percent want cash to be accepted at every point of sale. Only four percent of respondents never use cash.
Who publishes the figures on cash usage in Germany?
The Deutsche Bundesbank publishes a study on payment behavior in Germany every two years. The data comes from a survey and a payment diary run by the research institute forsa.
Cash usage and payments in Germany and Finance Loop
Finance Loop covers how Germany pays in its Payments & Digital Money track, from cash and girocard to Wero and the digital euro. Bankers and payment providers meet at Finance Loop events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.