Payments statistics: first half of 2024

The European Central Bank (ECB) today published statistics on non-cash payments for the first half of 2024.2 The statistics comprise indicators on access to and use of payment services, payment cards and terminals by the public, as well as volumes and values of transactions processed through retail and large-value payment systems. This press release focuses on developments in the euro area as a whole, although statistics are also published for all euro area countries as well as non-euro area reporting countries. EU and euro area aggregates are also published.³

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In the first half of 2024, the total number of non-cash payment transactions5 in the euro area increased by 7.4% to 72.1 billion compared with the first half of 2023, while the corresponding total value increased by 1.9% to €113.5 trillion. Card payments accounted for 56% of the total number of transactions, while credit transfers accounted for 22%, direct debits for 15% and e-money payments for 6%. The remaining 1% comprised cheques, money remittances and other payment services (see annex, Table 1).