Payments statistics: second half of 2024

23 July 2025

The European Central Bank (ECB) today published statistics on non-cash payments for the second half of 2024.^[2] The statistics comprise indicators on access to and use of payment services, payment cards and payment 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, while statistics are also published at country level for all euro area and most non-euro area EU member states. EU and euro area aggregates are also published.^[3]

Payment services^[4]

In the second half of 2024, the total number of non-cash payment transactions^[5] in the euro area increased by 8.6% to 77.6 billion compared with the second half of 2023, with the corresponding total value rising by 3.8% to €116.9 trillion. Card payments accounted for 57% of the total number of transactions, while credit transfers accounted for 21%, 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).

Data on payment services

Card payments

In the second half of 2024 the number of card payments within the euro area increased by 11.3% to 44.3 billion compared with the second half of 2023. The corresponding total value of card payments rose by 9.4% to €1.7 trillion, reflecting an average value of around €39 per transaction. The split between remote and non-remote^[6] transactions in the total number of card payments was 18% to 82%, while the split in terms of value was 28% to 72%. The number of contactless card payments initiated at a physical electronic funds transfer point of sale terminal increased by 15.5% to 29.5 billion compared with the second half of 2023, with the corresponding total value rising by 15.1% to €0.8 trillion. As a result, their share in the total number of non-remote card payments accounted for 81%, while the corresponding share in terms of value was 65%. At the national level, Lithuania continued to have the largest share of card payments as a percentage of the total number of non-cash payments in the second half of 2024, at around 79% (see annex, Table 2).

Credit transfers^[7]

In the second half of 2024 the number of credit transfers within the euro area increased by 7.3% to 16.2 billion compared with the second half of 2023, and the corresponding total value rose by 3.6% to €108.3 trillion. As higher-value payments are usually made by credit transfer^[8], they accounted for 93% of the total value of non-cash payments. The ratio of transactions initiated electronically to those initiated using paper forms was around 16 to 1, while in terms of value the ratio was around 12 to 1. At the national level, Latvia continued to have the largest share of credit transfers as a percentage of the total number of non-cash payments in the second half of 2024, at around 36% (see annex, Table 2).

Direct debits

In the second half of 2024 the number of direct debits within the euro area increased by 3.9% to 11.4 billion compared with the second half of 2023, and the corresponding total value rose by 8.2% to €5.4 trillion. Of the total number of direct debits, those with an electronic mandate accounted for 12% whereas those with consent given in other forms accounted for 88%, while in terms of value the split was 14% to 86%. At the national level, Germany continued to have the largest share of direct debits as a percentage of the total number of non-cash payments in the second half of 2024, at around 32% (see annex, Table 2).

E-money payments

In the second half of 2024 the number of e-money payment transactions within the euro area increased by 2.6% to 4.6 billion compared with the second half of 2023, and the corresponding value rose by 15.8% to €0.3 trillion. Of the total number of e-money payment transactions, those made with e-money accounts accounted for 95% whereas those made with cards on which e-money can be stored accounted for 5%, while in terms of value the split was 93% to 7%.

Cards and accepting devices

At the end of the second half of 2024 the number of cards with a payment function^[9] had increased by 8.2% to 750.0 million compared with the number at the end of the second half of 2023. With a total euro area population of around 353 million, this implies an average of 2.1 payment cards per euro area inhabitant.

At the end of the second half of 2024 the total number of automated teller machines (ATMs) in the euro area had decreased by 3.1% to around 253.7 thousand compared with the number at the end of the second half of 2023. Of these, 33% accepted contactless transactions.

At the end of the second half of 2024 the total number of point of sale (POS) terminals had increased by 7.9% to around 20.7 million^[10] compared with the corresponding number at the end of the second half of 2023. Of these terminals, 92% accepted contactless transactions.

Payment systems^[11]

Retail payment systems

Retail payment systems located in the euro area handle mainly payments that are made by individuals and businesses, with a relatively low value and high volume overall.

In the second half of 2024, 34 retail payment systems within the euro area processed around 56.1 billion transactions with a combined value of €26.4 trillion. Instant credit transfers accounted for 16% of the total number and for 4% of the total value of credit transfer transactions processed by euro area retail payment systems.

Retail payment systems located in the euro area differ significantly in terms of type, size and geographical scope of transactions they process. The three largest systems (MCMS^[12], STEP2-T^[13] and CORE (France)) processed 65% of the volume and 62% of the value of all transactions processed by the retail payment systems located in the euro area in the second half of 2024.

Data on retail payment systems

Large-value payment systems

Large-value payment systems form the backbone of the euro area financial market infrastructure and are designed primarily to process large-value and/or high-priority payments made between system participants for their own account or on behalf of their customers. 

In the second half of 2024, large-value payment systems located in the euro area settled 74.7 million payments with a total value of €223.7 trillion in euro payments, with T2 and EURO1/STEP1 being the two main systems.^[14]

Data on large-value payment systems

Notes:

• The full set of payment statistics can be downloaded from the ECB Data Portal (EDP). The EDP also includes interactive dashboards and interactive reports supporting data visualization. Detailed methodological information, including a list of all data definitions, is available under “Payment services and large-value and retail payment systems” in the "Statistics" section of the ECB's website.
• As of 2025, the dissemination scope of payments statistics in the EDP has been extended in two-waves. Since March 2025, the quarterly publication of payments statistics has been significantly widened, offering more detailed geographical breakdowns as well as additional details on card payments per type of merchant category codes (MCC). As of July 2025, the semi-annual publication includes details on the payment schemes for credit transfers and direct debits as well as more granular geographical breakdowns, among others. In addition, some indicators related to fraudulent payment transactions are now publicly available in the EDP. For the latter, please also refer to the relevant disclaimer available towards the bottom of the EDP page.
• Taking effect on 1 January 2022, the methodological and reporting framework for payments statistics was enhanced to take progressive developments in the payments market and related changes in the legal framework in Europe into account. The enhanced reporting requirements are set out in Regulation ECB/2020/59 amending Regulation ECB/2013/43 on payments statistics and in Guideline ECB/2021/13 on reporting requirements on payments statistics. In addition, the Manual on payments statistics reporting is available on the ECB’s website.
• Hyperlinks in the main body of the press release and in annex tables lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions. Figures shown in annex tables are a snapshot of the data at the time of the current release. Unless otherwise indicated, statistics referring to the euro area cover the EU Member States that had adopted the euro at the time to which the data relate.